Workpackage 1: Practical tools for implementing the National Qualifications Framework of Armenia
For the purposes of this workpackage an inter-institutional Working Group (WG) will be established from the academic and administrative staff of the EU and Armenian partner institutions to develop the basis for the NQFA implementation. A study tour to the Aarhus University in Denmark will open up the know-how on it for about 26 representatives from EU and Armenian partner institutions. On the return a 3 day work-shop will be organized at the Yerevan State University to gather a feedback on the National Qualifications Framework from the wider representatives of the Higher Education Community including students, Ministry of Education and Science of Armenia, Social Partners and the labor market. The results of the discussions and findings of the Aarhus study tour, as well as the workshop will be incorporated in the NQFA. It will follow with the development of NQFA implementation strategy and activity plan development. The WG will then develop tools and transparent procedures for aligning the existing qualifications with and plMaking Armenian National Qualifications Framework (ANQF) operational has currently become the most important issue of today’s Armenian HE system. It is envisaged to create and apply a methodological and legislative basis as well as practical tools for ANQF implementation at the national level. It will enable to align all HE qualifications in Armenia with the ANQF.
The inter-institutional Working Group (WG) will be established from academic and administrative staff of AM and EU partner institutions to create basis for ANQF implementation. To acquire know-how a 5-day study tour and information seminar for 21 WG members and 5 other representatives from AM HEIs will be organized in DK by AU. Those events would be devoted to ANQF implementation issues in EU countries. The materials of the seminar will be developed by EU partners. On the return a 3-day workshop in YSU will be organized with involvement of all the stakeholders (HEIs, MoES, NICARM, social partners and employers, business and industry representatives, student unions, 50 in total) for the introduction of the ANQF, getting common understanding and collecting feedback from main stakeholders. The necessary portable equipment will be procured for the ANQF WG in order to implement its tasks effectively.
Based on the results of the study tour, seminar and workshop findings the WG will develop the ANQF implementation strategy and action plan. The next task of the WG will be development of appropriate tools and transparent procedures for aligning the existing qualifications with and placing the new ones into the ANQF according to EU “Practical Guide to National Qualifications Frameworks”. For this purpose special procedures and ANQF Implementation Manual for HEIs, MoES, NICARM and other stakeholders will be elaborated and published. To ensure ANQF compatibility with European requirements it will be self-certified against QF-EHEA and referenced to EQF-LLL in according to Bologna “Criteria and Procedures for Verifying the Compatibility of Frameworks with the QF-EHEA”.
To inform all stakeholder on the aims, objectives and the use of the ANQF an information package will be produced, which includes a consistent Glossary as well as Guides for various stakeholders (learners and parents, education providers, employers and employment agencies, etc.) in order to facilitate understanding of qualifications among wider society. At all stages of the WP.1 implementation the expertise of EU partners will be utilized to assure European dimension and quality of the deliverables. All developed methodological and legislative documents and tools will be peer-reviewed by the project’s Quality Evaluation Committee (QEC).