20th SITTING OF CIS MEMBER-COUNTRIES’ COUNCIL OF COOPERATION IN EDUCATIONAL SPHERE STARTS IN YEREVAN

Noyan Tapan
Oct 25, 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 25, NOYAN TAPAN. The 20th sitting of CIS
member-countries’ Cooperation Council in Educational Sphere, which
was held on October 25 in Yerevan, was dedicated to discussion
of issues of educational quality, standardization of secondary
education, mutual recognition of higher professional education
documents, development of grown-ups’ education, cooperation between
universities and secondary schools, creation of joint universities,
and extension of their network. Delegations of 8 CIS countries took
part in the 20th jubilee sitting. Representatives of Azerbaijan,
Georgia, Uzbekistan did not take part in the sitting.

Levon Mkrtchian, the RA Minister of Education and Science, said in
his greeting speech that meetings and consultations periodically
organized within the framework of the Council contribute not only
to development of CIS inter-state cooperation, but also progress of
national educational system in individual countries. "The Club of
CIS Ministers of Education formed in 1998 tried to keep the former
Soviet educational space.

Cooperation between Council member-countries continues in
correspondence with the requirements of time," the Minister mentioned.

L. Mkrtchian emphasized that parallel with that cooperation, Armenia
also entered European educational space and has been in the system of
European monitoring for nearly one year. "This conference also helps
us to understand the level of each country. And the holding of this
conference in Armenia once more witnesses that the country remains
a scientific-educational center in the region," he said.

"I think the educational systems of CIS member-countries have
a great prospect, especially as they have been established in a
common educational space in the past. We should cooperate reaching
agreement over reforms implemented in that sphere," Alexander Radkov,
the Minister of Education of Belarus, stated.

"Armenia is in a period of ongoing reforms and developments, which
is also reflected in the educational sphere. Many-sided reforms and
developments implemented in the sphere are noticeable. All problems,
which unequivocally regard CIS member-countries’ educational systems,
will be discussed in these days," Kanibek Osmonaliyev, the Minister
of Education of Kyrghyzstan, mentioned.

The 13th conference of CIS member-countries’ Ministers of Education
will take place on October 26.