The “Reform of Higher Agricultural Education in Armenia” project is a joint initiative by the Armenian State Agrarian University (ASAU) and ICARE and is funded by USDA Foreign Agricultural Service.
The aim of the project is to support sustainable capacity building in ASAU to be able to meet the standards set forth by the Bologna Declaration (1999) and be part of EHEA (European Higher Education Area) by 2010. The project was launched in November 2006 and has four phases.
During the first phase of the project multi-departmental groups were formed from ASAU faculty and trainings were implemented by TDYs arrived from USA. The trainings covered topics in two directions topics of two directions: ECTS (European credit transfer and accumulation system) credit system and professional skills. As a result of the first phase 110 faculty and administrators were trained by US experts.
The second phase of trainings were carried out in ASAU all (at that time) six departments by selected Armenian faculty members (A-team leaders) who were trained by TDY experts during the first phase of trainings. The training were guided by a detailed planning calendar using a workshop format composed from members of each separate department. Overall, 120 faculty was trained during the second phase. The topics had two directions (ECTS and professional development) and were designed to address the following topics:
1) developing courses and curricula
2) developing course syllabi
3) developing and administering a transcript management system
4) teaching and learning methods
5) student evaluation methods & tools
6) computer applications for higher agricultural education (MOODLE program).
From January to July 2008 the third phase of trainings were implemented in selected two chairs of each department. The trainings had workgroup format. Each workgroup involved all lecturers from within a designated chair, the head of chair and the dean of the department.
The following were the selected chairs from each department.
1.Economics - 1) Statistics and Biometry; 2) Law and Politics
2.Hydromelioration, Land Tenure & Land Cadastre – 1) Melioration; 2) Land Development and Land Cadastre
3. Agronomy – 1) Fruit and Plant Protection; 2) Plant Breeding and Horticulture
4. Foodstuffs Technology - 1) Animal Products and Raw Material Processing Technology; 2) Plant Products Processing Technology
5. Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry – 1) Animal Morphology and Reproduction; 2) Biochemistry and Physiology
6. Machinery & Transportation – 1) Autotractors and Transportation; 2) Graphics and Principles of Machinery Design
The workshop topics were on developing courses and curricula, course syllabi elaboration, teaching and learning methods, student evaluation methods and grades, developing and administering a transcript management system. As a result of the workshops each faculty member developed syllabi for all the courses they teach. On total 149 faculty was trained during the third phase.
Currently, the fourth phase is being addressed - project implementation which is focused on raising awareness about the Bologna Declaration and on-going educational reforms among the bachelor degree students in all departments in ASAU (Agronomy; Economics; Machinery and Transportation; Foodstuffs Technology; Water Conservation and Land Tenure/Land Cadastre; Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry departments). The seminars with the students are conducted by flexible schedule based on the preference from the respective Dean’s office; i.e in Machinery and Agronomy departments seminars are held during regular class hours, whereas in the other departments meetings with the students are organized after their classes.
