Panorama.am news agency reported on 08/09/08 that Mr. Sanvel Badalian, the head of Civil Services Council, has indicated that the Armenian public sector needs highly-qualified experts and that they are not satisfied with the education level of job seekers.
According to Mr. Badalian, applicants for certain positions have constantly failed the recruitment tests in the past few years. In other words, some state agencies are unable to hire the qualified personnel, at least for salaries that they are offering. The shortage seems particularly acute for nuclear security personnel as well as financial analysts, lawyers and economists.
The problem of (un)employability of university graduates was also examined at the Council of Europe seminar in Tsaghkadzor, 8-9 September 2008 (for background information on the conference please click here).
It was pointed out that Armenian universities continue producing graduates who cannot find work whereas employers cannot find suitable employees. In other words, the contents of academic programs, particularly those that have a professional orientation, are not tuned to the job market requirements.
At the conference, almost all Armenian participants said they were dissatisfied with the general state of the higher education and unlike the customary way of hiding the truth in the presence of foreigners (there were delegations from several countries), this time frankness was usually favored. Except maybe Minister of Education Mr. Seyranian’s soviet-style opening speech that was full of inaccurate and exaggerated claims, which of course no one in the audience took seriously. Even Mr. Seyranian was rather honest later during informal side conversations (I wonder which chinovnik had written the speech).
On the first day of the seminar, presidents (rectors) of major public universities and of few private institutions were unanimous in voicing their concerns regarding the Bologna Process in Armenia. Everyone agreed that Armenian institutions won’t be able to comply with the Bologna requirements by the set deadline - beginning of 2010.
The soviet-style press release of the Ministry of Education and Science dated 10 September 2008, with its optimistic presentation of the situation written in a triumphal style, glorifying the recent “achievements” of the Armenian higher education, raises the following question one more time: How can a ministry infected by inertia, soviet mentality, bureaucracy and corruption – a ministry that is part of the problem – lead a set of fundamental and structural reforms in the education system?
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According to Mr. Badalian, applicants for certain positions have constantly failed the recruitment tests in the past few years. In other words, some state agencies are unable to hire the qualified personnel, at least for salaries that they are offering. The shortage seems particularly acute for nuclear security personnel as well as financial analysts, lawyers and economists.
The problem of (un)employability of university graduates was also examined at the Council of Europe seminar in Tsaghkadzor, 8-9 September 2008 (for background information on the conference please click here).
It was pointed out that Armenian universities continue producing graduates who cannot find work whereas employers cannot find suitable employees. In other words, the contents of academic programs, particularly those that have a professional orientation, are not tuned to the job market requirements.
At the conference, almost all Armenian participants said they were dissatisfied with the general state of the higher education and unlike the customary way of hiding the truth in the presence of foreigners (there were delegations from several countries), this time frankness was usually favored. Except maybe Minister of Education Mr. Seyranian’s soviet-style opening speech that was full of inaccurate and exaggerated claims, which of course no one in the audience took seriously. Even Mr. Seyranian was rather honest later during informal side conversations (I wonder which chinovnik had written the speech).
On the first day of the seminar, presidents (rectors) of major public universities and of few private institutions were unanimous in voicing their concerns regarding the Bologna Process in Armenia. Everyone agreed that Armenian institutions won’t be able to comply with the Bologna requirements by the set deadline - beginning of 2010.
The soviet-style press release of the Ministry of Education and Science dated 10 September 2008, with its optimistic presentation of the situation written in a triumphal style, glorifying the recent “achievements” of the Armenian higher education, raises the following question one more time: How can a ministry infected by inertia, soviet mentality, bureaucracy and corruption – a ministry that is part of the problem – lead a set of fundamental and structural reforms in the education system?
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