RA Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports year has stopped the activities of Erasmus+ national office in Armenia since January 1.
The team of Erasmus+ National Office in Armenia issued a statement about this.
"From now on, the RA Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports should be contacted directly for consultations on all the activities of the Erasmus+ program.
Avoiding possible questions, below we present the main justifications voiced by the Ministry.
.Erasmus+ projects mainly contributed only to business trips to European universities and were mostly tourism in nature.
.The projects did not lead to any noticeable impact on the Armenian higher education system.
The themes of the projects generally do not reflect the priorities of the development of higher education in Armenia.
In fact, as you, many of our colleagues, know, the main mission of the Erasmus+ National Office in Armenia is to disseminate information about the Erasmus+ program among the target groups, to provide them with advice and support, and the stated justifications of the Ministry may apply to various actors (including many projects to the participating ministry itself), but not to the Erasmus+ national office in Armenia. we do not have the authority to evaluate, select and/or monitor projects.
Briefly summarizing the last stage of our office's activity, we consider it important to highlight the following 3 indicators: Currently, in the Eastern Partnership region, Armenia ranks first in the number of VET institutions and third in the number of university capacity development projects (after Ukraine and Georgia).
These results are the result of the joint efforts of our office and educational institutions. Surveys conducted in the last two years show that the satisfaction of the beneficiaries using the services of the Office is at a very high level (9.4 points out of 10).
The office is highly trusted by the European Commission and the European Education and Culture Executive Agency.
It has consistently received 'very good' or 'good' ratings in all annual and summary reports submitted to the Agency, as well as in all 4 audit reports (most recent: BDO London, October 2024).
These evaluations are the best evidence that our office and our partners have made a significant contribution to the development of the RA education sector, and our activities have directly resulted from pan-European and national priorities.
Despite the current situation and all its consequences, the Erasmus+ National Office in Armenia is hopeful that the Erasmus+ program will continue to operate in Armenia on the same or larger scale, contributing to the internationalization of education in Armenia and the creation of new educational opportunities.
We wish success to the expected changes in the field of internationalization of education and hope that they will contribute to the formation of a cooperative, liberal and internationally visible educational system.
We deeply thank all our partners and beneficiaries for cooperating with us for years and for their efforts to improve the educational environment of RA.
