LAUNCHING OF THE POST-GRADUATE SCHOOL IN THE INSS, MOD RA
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15.02.10
The launching of the Post-Graduate School in the "Political Institutes
and Processes" specialization took place at Drastamat Kanayan Institute
for National Strategic Studies, MOD, Republic of Armenia on February
15. Their Excellencies Seyran Ohanyan, Minister of Defense; Armen
Ashotyan, Minister of Education and Science; Arman Kirakosyan, Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as Yuri Shukurian, Deputy Head of
National Academy of Sciences; Aram Simonyan, Rector of Yerevan State
University; Samvel Harutyunyan, Chairman of the State Committee of
Science, and the Members of the INSS Academic Committee participated
in the launching ceremony.
Major General Hayk Kotanjian, Advisor on Defense Security Policy to
the Minister of Defense, Doctor of Political Sciences welcomed the
participants of the ceremony and presented to the honorable guests the
academic portfolio and perspectives of the Post-Graduate School. He
mentioned that the project aimed at training INSS staff members and
leading specialists cooperating with the Institute in the defense and
security oriented political science, creating an environment which
would contribute to the development of their practical research skills.
Dr. Kotanjian also noted that the project would be implemented through
developing and approving individual curricula for post-graduate
students, combining research and training within the framework of the
Institute’s current projects with the American "On-the-Job-Training"
model, i. e. not only by acquiring knowledge, but also developing
appropriate skills to use it, as well as through academic cooperation
with leading partner institutions.
Then the Honorable Armenian Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan took
the floor. He highly evaluated the role of the INSS in the context
of defense education reforms and underlined the importance of the
interagency cooperation oriented towards the exchange and development
of advanced academic and educational experience. The Minister believed
the launching of the Post-Graduate School to be a significant and key
event. He paid a special attention to the fact that the establishment
of the Post-Graduate and School for National Security Executive
Education in the context of gradual transforming of the Institute
into the National Defense University would be the major component of
defense education reforms. Also it is a significant step forward for
the Institute which carries out its key obligations in a targeted way.
Armen Ashotyan, the Honorable Armenian Minister of Education and
Science, welcomed in his speech the fact that both the Bologna and
"On-the-Job-Training", i. e. training by researching, models would
be successfully synthesized in the project. This would enable
researchers to manifest their knowledge and enrich it through an
academic and research work. The Honorable Minister of Education and
Science offered his support in the INSS gradual transformation into
the National Defense University. He added that suchlike academic
institutions of National Defense University type were leaders among
the advanced training centers in developed countries. This is the
policy the Ministry of Defense and its INSS have adopted.
Nikolay Hovhannisyan, Corresponding Member of National Academy of
Sciences, former Fulbright Scholar mentioned in his speech that two
doctoral theses, recently defended at the INSS, should be considered
in a strategic caliber as they dealt with political issues of national
security.
Dr. Hovhannisyan evaluated the opening of the Post-Graduate School in
the INSS as a significant step for developing defense and security
oriented political science environment in independent Armenia. He
highlighted the intellectualization of the Senior Executives of
Armenian Armed Forces through the INSS within the process of defense
education reforms led by the Honorable Mr. Seyran Ohanyan.
At the end of the ceremony, the distinguished participants were
hopeful that the newly established Interagency Post-Graduate School
would provide the quality training of specialists in the sphere of
political and security studies for Armenia.