Yerevan/Mediamax/. Armenian National Center for Professional Education Quality Assurance Foundation (ANQA) has become a full member of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA). That means that the corresponding European body admits and identifies accreditation of Armenian universities by ANQA.

ANQA is an independent agency, authorized by the Armenian Government to provide state accreditation in education sector. The center’s membership in the ENQA network will facilitate entry for Armenian universities into Europe’s higher education family.

“If some student wants to study in a university or an Armenian university wants to sign a student exchange agreement with a university in Europe, the European party will first check if the Armenian institution is accredited and by what agency. Now they will see that the accreditor is ANQA, an equal European body. Thus, Armenian universities have more chances to sign the given agreement, and the students’ achievements will be identified in the corresponding university,” ANQA Director Ruben Topchyan told the press today.

As of this moment, ANQA accredited 18 universities, 5 private and 13 state ones. The center implemented institutional accreditation, while the program accreditation is yet to begin. There are 10 criteria for accreditation, such as correspondence between the goals of the university and the factual state of affairs, as well as budget management, education programs, professors, assurance of quality, etc.

President of ANQA Board of Trustees Varoujan Avedikian stated that this process facilitates students’ mobility within the country:

“If we have two accredited universities, the students can take some classes at the more specialized one and attend other classes at the second university, where, for instance, a famous professor teaches. That will allow the universities to learn from one another and have more progress.”

Ruben Topchyan noted that theoretical knowledge of Armenian students equals or even excels that of European level, but they fall behind in terms of practical skills.