EDUCATIONAL REFORMS VS. EDUCATIONAL REPLICA: AT THE JUNCTURE OF BECOMING A PLACEBO IN THE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM IN ARMENIA

Abstract

This article pursues the objective of promoting a superior understanding of imminent need in the transformation of higher education system in Armenia, based on the interests and needs of internal and external stakeholders (e.g., state, society, students, faculty, board of trustees, parents, taxpayers, and other constituencies) fit into that broader picture. The arguments herein may also promote a more holistic picture of the complexity of higher education landscape and the interplay between the economy and society. This article provides a conceptual foundation to further ponder on whether higher education reforms in Armenia for the past two decades have been targeted towards the creation of internationally competitive higher education system or were continuous mere modifications of different global implications.
The conceptual framework has been devised from the outputs of rigorous document analysis, literature review, and deep interviews on the topic of the impact of higher education reforms in the Republic of Armenia. A series of in-depth interviews were conducted with a wide range of state education policy makers, university senior managers, institutional accreditation specialists, quality assurance representatives, as well as various constituencies and stakeholder groups.
Since regaining independence in 1991 until joining the Bologna Process in 2005, Armenia ideologically distanced itself from global educational reforms and did not make commitment to the indoctrination of educational reforms. This ideologically might match up with the assertion that educational reforms are as a ‘placebo,’ that is, symbolic actions designed to indicate governmental awareness of problems and sympathetic intentions, rather than serious efforts and stringent policies to achieve social cohesion and become competitive internationally. However, with the exposure to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) integration in 2005 and onwards, Armenia has systematically been financed for the creation of a functional and competitive education system, has formulated and implemented the strategy of “revitalizing the country through science and education” (RA Government Program 2008), and has put the development of education as a strategic priority in the globalization drive.