How to Reform Vocational Education in Armenia

Stakeholder dialogue meeting of the organizations active in the field of Armenia’s Vocational Education and Training VET System

On 7 February, the organizations active in the field of Armenia’s Vocational Education and Training VET System met for a stakeholder dialogue meeting.

With a high level of participation, the list of the meeting’s attendees included representatives of the RA Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, the RA Ministry of Economy, the RA Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, private sector representatives, the Swiss Development and Cooperation in Armenia, UNDP and other local and international institutions. 

The cornerstones of the meeting were the presentation on VET activities and strategic directions in legislation of the Government of Armenia, and an intervention about the major development project “Modernizing VET in Agriculture in Armenia” MAVETA. 

“This reform intends to provide the Armenian economy with the necessary skilled workers for the agriculture sector,” said Werner Thut, the Deputy Head of Mission of the Swiss Embassy in Armenia, equally responsible for the Swiss Development and Cooperation Programme in Armenia, in his opening remarks referring to the MAVETA project. 

“Together with our German, Austrian and local partners, we think that the introduction of a Dual Vocational and Education System is the right thing to do in Armenia, at this point of time,” continued Mr. Thut. 

Based on an explanation how this system has developed and is now practiced in Switzerland, as well as on EUROSTAT data, Mr. Thut highlighted: “There is considerable evidence that countries with dual vocational education and training systems perform significantly better, compared to countries with other systems. When it comes to unemployment of young people between 15 and 24 years, Switzerland, Germany and Austria have the lowest rates. Moreover, also unemployment rates among adults tend to be are also lowest in these countries.”

“A fundamental lesson of this success story in all three countries: The dual education model can be effective only in case of a close collaboration between the private and the public sector. To put it simply: The private companies must tell the public what they need and whom they need. At the same time, they have to shoulder an important part of the task to train the workforce they need,” concluded Mr. Thut. 

The stakeholder dialogue meeting was organized by the Strategic Development Agency in the framework of the MAVETA project, which funded by a broad coalition of international and local organizations led by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), including the Austrian Development Agency, the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Government of Armenia, the Swiss Church Aid (HEKS/EPER) NGO, Izmirlian Foundation, the Strategic Development Agency (SDA) NGO and Vanand Agro CJSC.

The project’s implementing partners are the GIZ and HEKS/EPER with the involvement of SDA and the School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences at the Bern University of Applied Sciences (HAFL).

Source: Embassy of Switzerland in Armenia