ARMDOCT Project drafting team members met with the representatives of the RA Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports to discuss the draft Policy on the Development of the Third Level of Higher Education in the RA. The discussion was chaired by Karen Trchounian, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the RA. Sargis Hayotsyan (Chairman of Science Committee), Karen Keryan (Chairman of the Supreme Certifying Committee) other representatives of the Ministry and Project partner universities were also present.

Number of directions of the Policy were discussed during the meeting, including the new requirements for admission, education and research, degree awarding; new requirements and quality control mechanisms for doctoral education institutions; new approaches and criteria for the third level financing, as well as ethical rules in science. The transition from a two-level system to a one-level system of awarding scientific degrees implies the elaboration of legal documents and new regulations, which will be carried out on the basis of the principles of the Policy.

At the end of the meeting Mr. Karen Trchounian expressed confidence that the final version of the Policy will be prepared taking into account the comments collected from stakeholders.

It is worth mentioning that the Policy was elaborated in the framework of WP2 of the ARMDOCT Project. The Policy was elaborated on the basis of the study on the third level of higher education in Armenia (Level 8 of the RA NQF). Five task-force groups were created to propose conceptual directions and solutions for the development of doctoral education in Armenia. The activities of the task-force groups were subdivided into the following directions: admission to the third level of higher education, organizing education and research, degree awarding, link between HEI (scientific research institution) and industry.