On 25 December, 2020, the Meeting of VSU ARMDOCT project staff and VSU PhD students was held at VSU. The themes of discussion included the Policy of Doctoral Education in RA, as well as issues referring to the admission, organization and graduation from PhD studies. The PhD students expressed their opinions and made comments and suggestions. On termination of the meeting, the VSU ARMDOCT working team summarized the comments and measures directed to the improvement of the current policy.
PROJECT SUMMARY
The ARMDOCT project addresses an urgent need in Reforming Doctoral Education (DE) in Armenia in line with the Salzburg Principles with the emphasis on policy, legal framework (including by-laws) and institutional procedures supporting integrative and internationally-oriented doctoral studies involving universities, research institutions and industry.
The action foresees:
- strengthening strategic, infrastructural & human capacities in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and Institutes of the National Academy of Sciences (SRIs), the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of the Republic of Armenia;
- development of national new policy and legal framework, including by-laws for doctoral education in Armenia and further approval by national Ministry for pilot implementation;
- revision of institutional policies, procedures based on the redesigned national regulatory framework and design of the Institutional Handbook for Doctoral Education;
- establishment and operationalization of 5 Doctoral Schools creating synergies between HEIs, SRIs and industry;
- promotion of networking and long-term cooperation between Armenian and European HEIs for further internationalization of higher education research in Armenia.
VISION
Reformed Doctoral Education (DE) in Armenia in line with the Salzburg Principles with national and institutional policies and regulations supporting integrative and internationally-oriented doctoral studies involving universities, research institutions and industry.
AIMS & OBJECTIVES
Overall objective of the project is Reforming Doctoral Education (DE) in Armenia in line with the Salzburg Principles with the emphasis on policy, legal framework (including by-laws) and institutional procedures supporting integrative and internationally-oriented doctoral studies involving universities, research institutions and industry, and resulting in the establishment of Doctoral Schools.
Both the partners from the EU Member States and Armenia should reinforce their strengths and experience, previous lessons learnt, to overcome the developmental lag of Armenia in the organization of Doctoral education, research internationalization and support in strengthening the link between teaching, research and industry. It should be done considering shortages not only on the national, but also institutional levels.
This concept leads the project partnership to defining concrete project aims as:
- Capacity building of the staff from HEIs/SRIs, Ministry of Education and Science of Armenia (MESA)
- Development of new policy and legal framework, including by-laws for doctoral education in Armenia,
- Development/revision of institutional policies, procedures, and tools,
- Establishment and operationalization of new Doctoral Schools creating synergies between HEIs, SRI and industry,
- Promoting networking and long-term cooperation between Armenian and European HEIs for further internationalization of higher education research in Armenia.
Eurasia International University (Armenia) (EIU) (Coordinator)
AM partners
- French University in Armenia
- Armenian State Pedagogical University named after Khachatur Abovian (ASPU)
- Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU)
- Vanadzor State University named after Hovhannes Tumanyan (VSU)
- Yerevan Brusov State University of Languages and Social Sciences (YSULS)
- Yerevan State University (YSU)
- National Polytechnic University of Armenia (NPUA)
- Institute for Informatics and Automation Problems of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (IIAP)
- International Scientific-Educational Center of NAS RA (ISEC)
- The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of the Republic of Armenia (MESCS)
EU partners
- Catholic University of Portugal (UCP) (Portugal)
- University of Teramo (UNITE) (Italy)
- Jean Moulin University Lyon 3 (JML3U) (France)
- Vilnius University (VU) (Lithuania)
Official website of the project - https://armdoct.com/
Erasmus+ CBHE “ARMDOCT” Project (Reforming Doctoral Education in Armenia in Line with Needs of Academia, Industry and Current EU Practices) was launched on 4-5 February 2020.
VSU participates in the ARMDOCT project, which aims to reform Doctoral education in Armenia in line with the Salzburg principles through the revision of national policy, legal regulations, and institutional procedures.
European partners of the ARMDOCT program from Portugal, Italy, Lithuania and France, conducted the discussions. Together with the Armenian partners, they will presented best European experience and possible solutions to improve the quality of doctoral education.
Distinguished experts and institutional managers of the ARMDOCT partners from Italy and France presented the doctorate level policies, structures, and regulations of their countries.
The admission, supervision, quality assurance, defense, funding schemes, and other modalities were presented by Guillaume Rousett (Prof. Guillaume Rousset, Vice-President for International Relations, Jean-Moulin Lyon 3 University), Prof. Paola Pittia (Deputy Rector of Internationalization and Joint Study Programmes, University of Teramo) and Dario Compagnone (Deputy Rector For Research, Coordinator of PhD in Food Sciences, University of Teramo).




We concluded the second day of the capacity building training entitled "Policies and Structures of Doctoral education", which is conducted in the frames of the Erasmus+ ARMDOCT project.
The ARMDOCT partners and team members from Lithuania and Portugal presented the doctorate level policies, admission, supervision, quality assurance, defense, funding, as well as the cooperation schemes with the industry.






The training on "Policies and Structures of Doctoral education" was concluded by a panel discussion entitled "Challenges and opportunities of Doctoral Education" and chaired by Tatevik Gharibyan, Senior Higher Education Policy Specialist at MESCS.
The panelists from Italy, France, Portugal, and Lithuania presented the challenges they currently face in their countries on the third cycle of higher education (PhD, doctorate), possibilities of integration and collaboration of scientific institutes and universities, admission and state funding criteria, as well as industry incentives to finance doctoral education and scientific research etc.
The case of Lithuania, as a post-soviet country on the way of westernization of higher education, was particularly interesting in terms of mistakes and lessons learned. Taking into consideration the specificity of the case, the consortium planned to conduct a separate webinar with representatives and experts from Lithuania.













