ARMENIAN STUDENT MOVEMENT ASSESSED WITH OSCE SUPPORTD WITH OSCE SUPPORT
armradio.am
18.09.2008 16:16
Although the Armenian students’ movement is not yet fulfilling the
four pillars of student representation, there is ample enthusiasm
to improve the picture, according to an assessment conducted by the
European Students’ Union. The report was commissioned by the OSCE
Office in Yerevan and presented for public discussion in Yerevan today.
The four main pillars of student democracy include openness to all
students to participate, a democratic decision-making process run by
students, representation of all students, and independence from the
university administrations, the government and party politics.
The European Students’ Union (ESU) is an umbrella organization of 49
national unions of students from 38 European countries representing
the interests of over 10 million students.
The report said that during its meetings, the assessment team was
convinced by enthusiastic individuals that groups of students in
every university are ready to take action. The report was written
to draw the attention of the Armenian higher education sector to the
way students are represented.
"We hope that this report will provide food for thought and promote
discussion about the role of the student movement in Armenia, taking
into account the European experience in this regard," said Sven Holdar,
Democratization Officer at the OSCE Office. "We believe public debate
about student representation will contribute to developing a strong
student movement, which would help improve the quality of reforms in
higher education."
The study offers a number of recommendations, such as the need to
improve the flow of information to and from students, to ensure more
pluralism in debates, to give students autonomy over resources,
to provide best-practice guides and to revise legislation to make
student bodies more independent.
Jens Jungblut from ESU added: "Our main consideration is that the
organization of students is primarily a responsibility of students
themselves, but a higher education system can ensure circumstances
that create a more conducive atmosphere to develop a strong student
representation structure."
The ESU experts visited Armenia in June at the invitation of the OSCE
Office to study the strengths and weaknesses of Armenia’s university
student councils. They held interviews with rectors, deputy ministers,
trade unions, student councils, student NGOs and the National Youth
Council.
The assessment is part of the OSCE Office’s youth activities which
aim to promote the civic activity of young people within already
existing bodies of youth governance.
From: Baghdasarian