Students and Educational Reform in Armenia

Armenia: Higher Education & Sciences comments on a press release from the European Students’ Union (ESU) which is critical of the level of student participation in the process of educational reform in the country. Nevertheless, the specialist education blog notes, the ESU is optimistic about the future of the student movement in Armenia.

They concluded that the Armenian student movement is not fulfilling the 4 pillars of student representation mapped out in the Ljubljana Declaration. The Declaration basically calls for comprehensive, systematic and organized student participation in educational reform processes at both institutional and national levels.

According to ESU, what complicates the situation in Armenia (they call it “the most interesting challenge”) is the existence of strong informal systems parallel to the formal ones. Thanks to a high level of trust and friendship between certain individuals, the informal systems have access to information and are able to exercise considerable influence over decision-making processes. Whereas it is normally up to the formal structures, the elected student councils, to ensure effective student representation and participation.

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The ESU is however optimistic regarding the future of the student movement in Armenia. They state; “In several meetings, we were convinced by enthusiastic individuals that groups of students in every university are ready to take action” and “the fact that Armenia is just starting to implement the Bologna reforms, should be an encouragement for students to claim their participation in all debates on higher education right here, right now”.