Armenuhi Poghosyan: There is no dialog established between RA  educational system and employer

ArmInfo. The educational   system of Armenia does not have an established dialogue with the  employer regarding the requirements of the labor market, in  particular from the point of view of the necessary qualifications of  personnel.

On November 15 Armenuhi Poghosyan, Head of Vocational  Education and Training Policy Development and Strategy Division of  the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the  Republic of Armenia, expressed an opinion during a press conference  of the Club of Economic Journalists dedicated to the DUAL-education  system.

According to her, in 2017, a pilot project on introducing the  DUAL-education system has been launched in Armenia, which provides  for the passage of the educational process in an educational  institution and practice at a particular enterprise, as part of a  previously signed memorandum of cooperation between the educational  institution and the employer. The project implemented by GIZ in  Armenia, as Poghosyan noted, is being implemented in 12 educational  institutions of secondary specialization in 10 specialties, including  tourism, IT, winemaking, precision engineering, etc.

In turn, head of the Department of Continuing Education and  Retraining of Yerevan State Economic University, Aghavni Hakobyan,  noted that in today's reality, employers should be actively involved  in the process of "reconstruction" of the education system. "No one  thinks that it is first of all necessary to contact employers with  the question of what kind of personnel is needed today, with which  set of professional competence," she said.

Yulia Stakyan,  Expert at Private Sector Development and Technical  Vocational Education and Training South Caucasus, GI noted that  within the framework of the program, studies are being carried out to  identify the personnel of secondary specialization needed in the  labor market. She emphasized that today special attention is paid to  the introduction of new specialties, in particular in the field of  robotics, mechatronics and solar energy, since, as the study shows,  these areas are promising.

Answering a question from ArmInfo correspondent, Stakyan explained  that the program does not oblige employers to employ students after  the training process, although such experience is being applied in  the West. <That is, within the framework of the program, the employer  provides students with such skills and knowledge that will allow him  to be competitive in the labor market in a particular field, "the  expert concluded.