YSMU Continues on Its Modernization Path

Professor Gohar Kialian is one of the most controversial figures in the Armenian education scene. It is true that there aren’t that many; most HEI leaders continue to manage their institutions in a very calm and quiet way – not taking new initiatives, not implementing reforms, not upgrading their facilities,… so they can’t even be noticed, let alone being controversial.

At the helm of Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU), Gohar Kialian is the only female university president/rector in Armenia. She seems to have a certain vision for the institution she is leading, and a strong will and determination to make it happen.

However, it is also true that she has failed so far to raise substantially the quality of instruction at YSMU and corruption continues to plague the institution. Her authoritarian leadership style and command-and-control management contradict how a modern HEI operates as well as all that the Bologna reforms require.

Gohar Kialian has nevertheless been rather successful in upgrading the university facilities, improving certain student services, and mobilizing effectively external resources – both those of the Armenian Diaspora and international partners. In the recent month two major initiatives came to prove this last point.

American Partnership

According to a University of Southern California, USA, press release, the University’s School of Pharmacy has entered into an academic partnership with YSMU. Michael Wincor, Associate Dean of Globalization and Continuing Professional Development, signed a tripartite agreement with Gevorg Yaghjyan, Vice Provost for Professional, Postgraduate and Continuing Medical Education, and the U.S. Agency for an international development-funded Competitive Armenian Private Sector Project on 29 March 2010. Excerpts from the press release:

This new initiative aims to ensure that pharmaceutical program curricula in Armenia are in line with current employer needs and that teaching methods are up-to-date.

USC won the contract to work with YSMU on this project from a competitive pool of HEIs in the U.S. USC was the only school chosen by the Competitive Armenian Private Sector Project group.

Wincor’s 1-week visit will result in a detailed needs assessment for the school and likely future visitation by other faculty members to present courses to students and faculty as a way to demonstrate how the curriculum is realized at USC. Ultimately, Wincor anticipates faculty and student exchanges, much like those USC has with other partner schools around the world.

“The Armenian students I met during my visit were excited about becoming clinical pharmacists,” Wincor said. “While their current course of study does not offer a clinical track, these students know what pharmacists are doing in the U.S., for example, and are eager to do the same.”

The Armenian program will include a 4-year undergraduate program complemented by a 2-year master’s program during which clinical training is a focus. Previously, pharmacy students in Armenia took a five-year program followed by a one-year internship. The first group of students enrolled in the new master’s program will begin in September 2010.

“During my visit, I worked with administrators and faculty on how to teach the clinical components of the program, sharing methodologies on how to best support students as they grasp skills and competencies required for working with patients,” Wincor said.

Nazarian Center for Neurovascular Surgery

The second major news coming from YSMU related to the opening of a new center for neurovascular surgery. The center has been named after Levon Nazarian, the son of the donators Nazar and Artemis Nazarians who have donated 1.7 million USD for the construction of the center.

President Serge Sargsian, President of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) Berge Setrakian, and members of the AGBU Central Board of Directors were present at the inauguration ceremony.

According to The Armenian Mirror-Spectator, the construction of the center, which is a unique project of regional significance, was initiated by YSMU 3 years ago. The center is equipped with the high-tech devices and its staff has undergone professional training in the best clinics abroad for the past 3 years.

Russia Tries Again to Have its Own Silicon Valley

Yet another attempt by Russian authorities to emulate Silicon Valley’s success: As the government’s efforts to transform the Soviet era Dubna science city into a modern innovation hub seems going nowhere, the government has decided to build a science and innovation town from scratch.

The new centre that will pioneer the country's research and innovation in areas considered critical for Russia's modernization drive will try to attract young and creative scientists and businesspeople to invest and work there.

One of the characteristics of the new town will be the combination of science and business, and surely for this reason the town will be located in Skolkovo. Situated near Moscow, Skolkovo already has a top level business school, dubbed by some as “the Russian Harvard.” Established only a year ago, the school does not have a clear record of alumni placement and performance to justify its presumed resemblance to Harvard.

According to the plan that is supported by President Medevev, five different scientific communities will be established in Skolkovo in the next couple of years.

In a recent speech to young scientists, Medvedev said that the project is intended for turning the city into a hub for the development and commercialization of new technologies: “This will be an all new city where five high tech centers of excellence will be developed. First it will be in energy, IT, telecommunications, biomedicine and nuclear technologies. We are of course not limited to these.”

Hopes & Doubts

According to the New York Times, Russia’s rich scientific traditions and poor record of converting ideas into marketable products are both undisputed, cited as causes for the Soviet collapse and crippling dependence on mining and petroleum. Not surprisingly, then, its leaders look longingly at Silicon Valley.

The whole country needs some sort of breakthrough, Viktor F. Vekselberg, the Russian business oligarch appointed co-director of the project, said in an interview. Mr. Vekselberg was chosen in part because of his investments in solar power , an unusual venture for one of the oligarchs who made fortunes in commodities. The founding of the innovation city, in form and substance, he says, could be a launching pad for the country as a whole. He calls the city a test run of business models to rebuild Russian science for the capitalist era.

Once developed, the site is intended to incubate scientific ideas using generous tax holidays and government grants until the start-ups can become profitable companies. Its backers in government and the private sector describe it as an effort to blend the Soviet tradition of forming scientific towns with Western models of encouraging technology ventures around universities.

Skeptics see a deeper strain of Russian tradition: trying to catch up with the West by wielding the power of the State.

We should not expect the same mechanisms that work in Silicon Valley to work in Russia, says Evgeny V. Zaytsev, a co-founder of Helix Ventures, a life sciences venture capital company based in Palo Alto, USA, and a member of the advisory board of AmBar, the Russian business association in the real Silicon Valley. The government will be involved, because that is the way it works in Russia.

Indeed, the new city was conceived by what is called the Commission on Modernization, deep within the Kremlin bureaucracy.

The Russian government, though, has a long and conflicted relationship with entrepreneurs and scientists. There is still a thriving tradition of government crackdowns on private business with capricious enforcement of the tax laws, making entrepreneurship difficult.

While similar ideas have been bandied about for years, this one was approved and blessed with 200 million USD in government money within a month of a visit in January to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by senior Kremlin leaders, including Vladislav Surkov, the powerful deputy director of the presidential administration. Mr. Surkov says the new city will isolate new businesses from the bureaucracy that handcuffs the Russian economy today.

A government-financed foundation will build and run the city. Directors of existing state-financed tech companies including Rusnano, a nanotechnology fund headed by Anatoly Chubais, a leading architect of Russias controversial post-Soviet privatization will serve on the board and contribute money. Separately, a scientific council will decide which companies can locate at the site. The infrastructure should be in place within 3 years, Mr. Vekselberg says.

Female HEI Leaders Discuss Gender Equality

Forty two female university presidents/rectors from across Europe met in Istanbul, Turkey, April 12– 14 for the 2nd ‘Beyond the Glass Ceiling’ conference to discuss strategies to close the gap of gender equality and promote the empowerment of women in higher education. The conference was hosted by Istanbul Technical University, or İTÜ. According to Hurriyet Turkish daily, the focus of the conference was on women and leadership in higher learning and overcoming barriers that prevent women from reaching their goals.

Efforts are increasingly being made by various states and international organizations to reach gender equality, but the measures are failing to keep up with the pace of change, the female participants at an Istanbul conference said at the conference.

The rectors discussed ideas about women’s education and breaking the metaphorical glass ceiling that hinders women with great potential from advancing to the top positions in their organizations because of their gender.

“We are the rectors, vice chancellors and presidents who have all succeeded at breaking the glass ceilings in our universities. Our cases have created a snowball effect on our societies, but the greatest challenge now is to increase the number of women academics to go beyond the ceiling,” said Gülsün Sağlamer, chair of the organization committee and former rector of İTÜ.

According to Sağlamer, there are at least 3 steps ahead that need to be taken in order to reach set targets:
1.
Create awareness among women academics
2.
Convince women to claim the idea and take action
3.
Achieve good representation at the decision-making levels of HEIs with systematic and structured approaches with well-funded strategic plans

“We need to establish well-connected networks to work together to achieve these goals. Some of the well-known women in networks such as the World Women University Presidents Forum have long been active, but the number of their members is limited,” Sağlamer said.

Washing the Glass Ceiling Away

Liu Jinan, President of the Communication University of China and also the organizer and host of the first, second, third and fourth World University Women Presidents forums, highlighted the need for such discussion.

“It is my own experience as a woman and university president that makes me deeply aware that the formation of women’s leadership first and foremost depends on our own efforts,” Liu said, noting that this includes inner mentoring, such the process of self-education, self-perfection and external struggles, as well as the process of winning support from society.

“On the road to liberation every woman should bring wisdom and capability into full play. Communication and cooperation among women groups is also needed,” she said.
Liu said “water” is often used to describe women’s unique traits in Chinese culture. “Water is not only soft but also powerful. It can adapt to its surroundings and influence it unknowingly. Water traits endow women with great potential to break the glass ceiling.”

Educating & Empowering

Reflecting on the developments in European higher education policies in recent years, the Vice President of the European University Association, Maria Helena Vaz de Carvalho Nazare, said there are still large gaps between countries in gender equality.

“Each country has its own strengths and weakness in the matter of gender equality. While many countries struggle with an aging population, Turkey is flourishing with a young population but then faces the issue of educating them,” Nazare said.

According to Nazare, an integrated approach needs to be taken in educating and giving opportunities to young people. “We need to create value by basing growth on knowledge and empowering people in inclusive societies,” Nazare said, adding that this must include disadvantaged people.

Turkey Establishes A German University

Turkey is will have a German University soon. Unlike the German University in Armenia, the Turkish one will be a public institution. According to Anatolia news agency, via Zaman Turkish daily, the draft law on the opening of the University in Istanbul was approved by Turkish parliament on 31 March 2010.

Replying to the questions of deputies on the draft law, Turkey’s Education Minister Ms. Nimet Çubukçu said İstanbul's Galatasaray University had been founded under the same conditions. Founded in 1992 as a French institution, Galatasaray University has become fully integrated within Turkey’s higher education sector.

Emphasizing the "contributions to Turkish education system" of such institutions, Çubukçu said, "This is our university and the students who will be educated at this institution will be the students of our country."

"Opening a Turkish university and secondary schools in Germany is also a necessity. Efforts could be exerted to this end," the minister added.