Republican Party of Armenia

Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan attended the General Assembly of the European Association of Higher Education Institutions due this May 14-16 at the Yerevan State University. The event was also attended by Minister of Education and Science Armen Ashotyan.

Welcoming the participants, the Prime Minister stressed the forum’s importance, especially considering that our country recently became a member of the European Association of Higher Education Institutions.

“Armenia’s academic circles’ involvement in the Association is in full conformity with our country’s large-scale reform policy in the system of higher education, which goes back to 2005 when Armenia joined the Bologna process. Our country’s commitment to the Bologna process is reflected in its assumption of the follow-up group secretariat in 2012 and 2015, as well as in the fact that the Bologna ministerial summit was held in Yerevan in 2015. This is a good opportunity to deepen our cooperation with the European countries in the field of higher education to the benefit of academic exchange programs and university education,” the Premier pointed out.

According to the head of government, knowledge-based society is a highlight among the Government’s strategic priorities, which is especially crucial considering the country’s limited natural and financial resources. “A vivid evidence of knowledge-based economy can be found in the fact that Armenia boasts modern IT and engineering sectors, which are investment-extensive fast-growing sectors in the economy,” the Prime Minister said.

Hovik Abrahamyan said to be pleased with the fact that the Association’s annual conference, referred to as “Qualifications for Labor Market” is held in parallel to the Assembly’s proceedings.

According to the head of government, the forum’s motto is aimed at bringing closer the university-labor market and student-employer poles, as well as assessing the opportunities and challenges available in this area and finding ways of making effective use of their advantages. In this respect, Armenia can benefit a lot by hosting events like this, since in addition to providing an important platform for making decisions, they build up new bridges of cooperation in the face of upcoming challenges and in terms of establishing new traditions in the field of education.

For special attention given to higher education, President of the European Association of Higher Education Institutions Andreas Orfanides awarded the Premier with the Medal of Honor of the European University Cyprus.