OVERVIEW OF ACTIVITIES AT YEREVAN STATE UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES (January 2014 – December 2015) MONITORING BY ERASMUS + OFFICE in ARMENIA 22 MARCH 2016

LOCAL MANAGEMENT OF THE PROJECT AT YSULSS 22/03/2016 WORKING GROUP FOR THE PROJECT Lilit Badalian, PhD in Philology, Associate Professor at Chair of English Lexicology and Stylistics at YSULSS, VERITAS project Board member Hakob Madoyan, Phd in Philosophy, Acting Head of Chair of Philosophy at YSULSS, head of YSULSS VERITAS working group Heghine Kharazyan, 3-rd year PhD student (Research applicant) at Chair of English Lexicology and Stylistics at YSULSS, Hasmik Pilavjyan, YSLUSS acting Scientific Secretary Robert Khachatrian, PhD in Philology, Head of Chair of Education Management and Planning at YSULSS (joined VERITAS WG in 2015) Nina Tatkalo, PhD in Pedagogy, Dean of Faculty of Russian and Foreign Languages at YSULSS (worked in VERITAS WG in 2014)

LOCAL MANAGEMENT OF THE PROJECT AT YSULSS CONTACT PERSONS FOR VERITAS AT YSULSS Hakob Madoyan Lilit Badalian FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT WG sends financial reports (twice a year), and other financial documents to management team, upon request Management team reviews, comments on and confirms conventions and timesheets, where the tasks performed by each WG member are described Payments for tasks performed by WG members are transferred to YSULSS, however some other payments (hotel, air tickets, etc) are made directly by the management team 25/03/2016

DEVELOPMENTS WITHIN THE PROJECT RESEARCH UNIT for PhD education has been reorganized The unit functions under Vice-Rector on Science at YSULSS: Lusine Fljyan Responsible for education affairs (curriculum, etc): Anna Yeghiazaryan Responsible for scientific affairs (official documentation, approval of thesis topics, publication, etc): Hasmik Pilavjyan The detailed list of responsibilities for all departments of YSULSS will be confirmed by the Scientific Council of YSULSS, responsibilities of the research unit for PhD education is expected to be verified at the end of May, 2016 DEVELOPED DOCUMENTS: Fact-finding (includes SWOT analysis on doctoral education in Armenia, particularly at YSULSS, and comparative analysis of doctoral education in Europe and in Armenia against Salzburg Principles) Road map and Strategic Plan for the pilot PhD program “Education Policy” at YSULSS CURRENT AND UPCOMING ACTIVITIES Revision of PhD program on “Education Policy” against QA developed by ANQA External Evaluation of the pilot PhD program on “Education Policy”

DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES 22/03/2016 IN-HOUSE TRAINING In-house training for Heads of Chairs and supervisors:17 June 2015 In-house training for PhD students and Research Applicants: 22 June 2015 DISSEMINATION: Training kit on Salzburg Principles has been disseminated in chairs and sent to all departments of YSULSS as ebook Periodically info about the progress of VERITAS is posted on web: brusov.am

STUDY VISIT YSULSS team gave a detailed feedback on the lessons learnt from the study visit, which is to be published; here we’d like to mention just two points: Real practices are very different from one graduate school to another and it was very productive to meet representatives from all the aspects of PhD education (administrators, supervisors, team leaders, 1-st, 2-nd, 3-rd year PhD students, library staff, etc.), to learn about their attitude towards EQF, Salzburg Principles, etc. and compare various models of PhD education. One of major conclusions we draw is that the reform of PhD education should begin with the revision of the notion of supervision, for supervisors are the cultivators and communicators of high quality research culture. 22/03/2016

MAIN CHALLENGES/STRENGTHS MAJOR CHALLENGES WE WILL HAVE AT YSULSS Implementation of the new principles of doctoral education in other specialties after the successful launch of the pilot program. OPPORTUNITIES AND STRENGTHS THE PROJECT HAS AT YSULSS Education Policy is a relatively young discipline and the Chair of Education Management and Planning (among few of this kind in the region) is one of the leading departments committed to research in the field of education in RA; it has very good young research staff – all of them familiar with principles of Bologna process and international practice in the field of higher education – which is a good guarantee for successful implementation of the pilot program. We have a good strategic plan and we are open to discussions and new ideas to improve it 22/03/2016

Hakob Madoyan Lilit Badalian 22/03/2016