KHACHATUR ABOVYAN ARMENIAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY

Vice-Rector of the Armenian State Pedagogical University (ASPU) for HR Management and International Cooperation Marianna Harutyunyan attended the Erasmus+ international workshop titled “Towards Equity and Inclusion in Higher Education”.

The attendees were greeted by Coordinator of the Erasmus+ Office in Armenia Lana Karlova, Rector of the State Academy of Fine Arts of Armenia Vardan Azatyan and representatives of inter-agency bodies representing the sphere of higher education.

EU experts, including Executive Director of the Institute for the Development of Education (Croatia) Ninoslav Šćukanec Schmidt and Higher Education Policy Expert at the same Institute Thomas Farnell presented the main terms and policies (equity, inclusion, diversity and social criteria of higher education) in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) context, as well as the challenges of equity and inclusion that are leading to inequality in the EHEA.

During the panel discussion, ASPU Vice-Rector Marianna Harutyunyan touched upon the current challenges in the higher education sector in Armenia, the educational and social needs and the problematic aspects of the issues that have been raised. The speaker also talked about the current challenges and problems in the higher education system and the need for reforms. She also emphasized the importance and urgency of fairness and balance and inclusion in higher education.

Marianna Harutyunyan answered questions from the representatives of higher education and, in her speech, she highlighted the fact that the Armenian State Pedagogical University is the only university in Armenia that prepares special pedagogues, actively collaborates with the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia and jointly works with task forces to conduct studies and create legal documents to introduce them in the education system.

Marianna Harutyunyan considered the current problems in the physical and social environment among the challenges facing higher education which, according to her, introduction of the “Academic City” Program will also help resolve. “There have to be global solutions to the problems facing universities, taking as a basis the principles of universal design for learning,” she said.

Invited representatives from other universities also touched upon the topic, highlighting the importance of fairness and balance and inclusion in higher education and the urgency of the future-oriented programs.