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Serzh-Style and Ignorant Project
http://www.aravot.am/en/2012/07/05/88164/
July 5, 2012 13:44
Former rector Suren Zolyan says about the government program
Suren Zolyan, the former rector of Yerevan State Linguistic
University after V. Bryusov, comparing the previous and current
programs of the government, assesses the former as a program of good
wishes and the latter as a program at the level of Housing Committee
Office, when a man wants to earn money, on one hand, and to avoid
responsibility, on the other. Replying to a question of Aravot whether
he was afraid that his assessments would be perceived differently, the
former rector proposed to print both programs without commentaries and
leave it to the reader's judgment.
As a result of comparing those, he asserts, `The previous program
absolutely failed, whereas this one is not a program at all, it is
just an incomplete and ignorant expression of incoherent ideas. Simple
issues are put forward in this program.' Zolyan asserts that the
development of a university should not be a secondary priority, it
should be one of the pillars of state, economic and social
development, as it is in the Baltic countries, the experience of which
he is acquainted with personally.
Talking about the previous program of the government, our interlocutor
quotes Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan's following motto, `Strong
universities, strong state.' He says that in the previous program,
there was at least a wish to restore Armenia's reputation as a
scientific and educational area, which was the case in the Soviet
period thanks to the fact that 3% of GDP was spent on the higher
education and 5% on science. In the previous program, they promised to
increase the financing to 3.5% of GDP. According to Zolyan, no one
remembers that program of good wishes now and he is compelled to quote
and compare the old one with the new one.
The phrase in the government's action plan for years 2012-2017 that
`the independence of universities will be increased in accordance with
the Bologna Declaration' has surprised the expert. He claims that
neither in the Bologna Declaration, nor in any other document there is
any mention of independence, `There is a common term, which is used
not only in the Bologna Declaration, but also in the Constitution of
the Republic of Armenia - it is `autonomy.' The Ministry of Education
and Science actually doesn't admit that universities are autonomous.
They either don't know the meaning of that word or that word is so
contemptible to them that they wrote in the program about
universities' independence.'
He also disputes the article in the program concerning the
availability of education and says that it implies certain financial
investments to be made by the government and that in the previous
program there were certain numbers, whereas in this one there is
nothing, `It just mentions that the state should increase, but it
should demand of universities to cut spending
for that.' Quoting the notion of Armen Asotyan, the Minister of
Education and Science, expressed at a press conference that `why
should a private university provide legal education for 150 000 AMD
and a state university for 800 000 AMD,' the former rector is
confused, `I don't want to interfere in the business of a state
university, but Mr. Minister should understand that every state
university has other functions too - a state university has, for
example, a faculty of physics, the cost price of which is very high
and if he makes the educational fee at the faculty of law 150 000 AMD,
the fee at the faculty of physics or chemistry should become 1 million
AMD.' In his words, everything is calculated and the prices are not
randomly selected, `10% of the sum is used as a discount for families
unprovided for, let alone the needs not mentioned in the law, say
obtaining new furniture for Mr. Minister, the money spent on cell
phones etc. For some reason, it is stuck in people's minds that, let's
say, a linguist needs only paper and a pen, they don't understand that
one needs respective literature, specialists invited from abroad....'
Suren Zolyan has found out that some articles of the current and
previous programs of the government literally repeat each other,
which, he is convinced, testifies to the fact that they have not been
realized, as, for example, offering more opportunities for national
minorities to receive qualified basic education. Our interlocutor is
surprised at how one can talk about making education free and
available for socially unprotected classes, when there is no mention
in the program of how it should be financed, `The reality is that free
education places diminish every year.' As for the phrase expressed by
Ashotyan during a press conference that one of the methods of fighting
corruption in universities might be putting heads of 5 corrupted
professors on sticks, Zolyan states, `According to the polls, for
example, the level of corruption in the linguistic university is 0.6%,
as for the ministry and the system as a whole, it is 70%. So, does it
mean that the whole ministry should be decapitated?'
The former rector thinks that the article of the program, which
mentions the development of Armenian studies, is ridiculous, since the
money spent on the science as a whole is 0.2%.
In regard to the higher education, Zolyan said about building campuses
and dormitories the following - construction is the least controllable
field of `devouring money.' `It is a long-standing dream to drive
universities away from the center of the city to the regions and turn
their buildings into hotels or restaurants. Certainly, there are
campuses in Europe too, but the old buildings of universities have
been preserved - either the rector's office or museums are there.'
In the former rector's words, the opportunity to get the so-called
`education for life' should have been the axis of the educational
policy, but it has been completely forgotten or is dealt with at the
level of NGOs at best. According to him, the program doesn't mention
the system of the National Academy of Sciences and as for providing
first-graders with cheap, $50, computers, it is not a big deal,
particularly given the fact that one can buy them for $50, but
represent as ones that cost $300. `The word `Bologna' should be
mentioned in the program of the government this way or another, since
Armenia has taken on the Bologna Secretariat. It is represented as a
big achievement, but in reality it is not, it is just that other
countries didn't even aspire after that.'
Seizing the opportunity, Suren Zolyan presented a newly-constructed
website, www.unifree.am, on which an initiative group puts forward
ideas in regard to the higher education development. He proposes to
organize discussions on the government program, particularly given the
fact that there had been no discussions before the program was
adopted and one can sense the `Serzh style,' which has been spread
over universities, throughout the whole program.
GOHAR HAKOBYAN
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
http://www.aravot.am/en/2012/07/05/88164/
July 5, 2012 13:44
Former rector Suren Zolyan says about the government program
Suren Zolyan, the former rector of Yerevan State Linguistic
University after V. Bryusov, comparing the previous and current
programs of the government, assesses the former as a program of good
wishes and the latter as a program at the level of Housing Committee
Office, when a man wants to earn money, on one hand, and to avoid
responsibility, on the other. Replying to a question of Aravot whether
he was afraid that his assessments would be perceived differently, the
former rector proposed to print both programs without commentaries and
leave it to the reader's judgment.
As a result of comparing those, he asserts, `The previous program
absolutely failed, whereas this one is not a program at all, it is
just an incomplete and ignorant expression of incoherent ideas. Simple
issues are put forward in this program.' Zolyan asserts that the
development of a university should not be a secondary priority, it
should be one of the pillars of state, economic and social
development, as it is in the Baltic countries, the experience of which
he is acquainted with personally.
Talking about the previous program of the government, our interlocutor
quotes Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan's following motto, `Strong
universities, strong state.' He says that in the previous program,
there was at least a wish to restore Armenia's reputation as a
scientific and educational area, which was the case in the Soviet
period thanks to the fact that 3% of GDP was spent on the higher
education and 5% on science. In the previous program, they promised to
increase the financing to 3.5% of GDP. According to Zolyan, no one
remembers that program of good wishes now and he is compelled to quote
and compare the old one with the new one.
The phrase in the government's action plan for years 2012-2017 that
`the independence of universities will be increased in accordance with
the Bologna Declaration' has surprised the expert. He claims that
neither in the Bologna Declaration, nor in any other document there is
any mention of independence, `There is a common term, which is used
not only in the Bologna Declaration, but also in the Constitution of
the Republic of Armenia - it is `autonomy.' The Ministry of Education
and Science actually doesn't admit that universities are autonomous.
They either don't know the meaning of that word or that word is so
contemptible to them that they wrote in the program about
universities' independence.'
He also disputes the article in the program concerning the
availability of education and says that it implies certain financial
investments to be made by the government and that in the previous
program there were certain numbers, whereas in this one there is
nothing, `It just mentions that the state should increase, but it
should demand of universities to cut spending
for that.' Quoting the notion of Armen Asotyan, the Minister of
Education and Science, expressed at a press conference that `why
should a private university provide legal education for 150 000 AMD
and a state university for 800 000 AMD,' the former rector is
confused, `I don't want to interfere in the business of a state
university, but Mr. Minister should understand that every state
university has other functions too - a state university has, for
example, a faculty of physics, the cost price of which is very high
and if he makes the educational fee at the faculty of law 150 000 AMD,
the fee at the faculty of physics or chemistry should become 1 million
AMD.' In his words, everything is calculated and the prices are not
randomly selected, `10% of the sum is used as a discount for families
unprovided for, let alone the needs not mentioned in the law, say
obtaining new furniture for Mr. Minister, the money spent on cell
phones etc. For some reason, it is stuck in people's minds that, let's
say, a linguist needs only paper and a pen, they don't understand that
one needs respective literature, specialists invited from abroad....'
Suren Zolyan has found out that some articles of the current and
previous programs of the government literally repeat each other,
which, he is convinced, testifies to the fact that they have not been
realized, as, for example, offering more opportunities for national
minorities to receive qualified basic education. Our interlocutor is
surprised at how one can talk about making education free and
available for socially unprotected classes, when there is no mention
in the program of how it should be financed, `The reality is that free
education places diminish every year.' As for the phrase expressed by
Ashotyan during a press conference that one of the methods of fighting
corruption in universities might be putting heads of 5 corrupted
professors on sticks, Zolyan states, `According to the polls, for
example, the level of corruption in the linguistic university is 0.6%,
as for the ministry and the system as a whole, it is 70%. So, does it
mean that the whole ministry should be decapitated?'
The former rector thinks that the article of the program, which
mentions the development of Armenian studies, is ridiculous, since the
money spent on the science as a whole is 0.2%.
In regard to the higher education, Zolyan said about building campuses
and dormitories the following - construction is the least controllable
field of `devouring money.' `It is a long-standing dream to drive
universities away from the center of the city to the regions and turn
their buildings into hotels or restaurants. Certainly, there are
campuses in Europe too, but the old buildings of universities have
been preserved - either the rector's office or museums are there.'
In the former rector's words, the opportunity to get the so-called
`education for life' should have been the axis of the educational
policy, but it has been completely forgotten or is dealt with at the
level of NGOs at best. According to him, the program doesn't mention
the system of the National Academy of Sciences and as for providing
first-graders with cheap, $50, computers, it is not a big deal,
particularly given the fact that one can buy them for $50, but
represent as ones that cost $300. `The word `Bologna' should be
mentioned in the program of the government this way or another, since
Armenia has taken on the Bologna Secretariat. It is represented as a
big achievement, but in reality it is not, it is just that other
countries didn't even aspire after that.'
Seizing the opportunity, Suren Zolyan presented a newly-constructed
website, www.unifree.am, on which an initiative group puts forward
ideas in regard to the higher education development. He proposes to
organize discussions on the government program, particularly given the
fact that there had been no discussions before the program was
adopted and one can sense the `Serzh style,' which has been spread
over universities, throughout the whole program.
GOHAR HAKOBYAN
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress