Yerevan/Mediamax/. “Economy and Values” research center presented in Yerevan today the third annual reports on national competitiveness of Armenia, where the system of higher education was chosen as the key topic of research.

Mediamax reports that while presenting the report, Director of “Economy and Values” Center Manuk Hergnyan stated that despite all problems, the system of higher education in Armenia has promising prospects taking into account the perquisites, among which, in particular, is the “historical importance of education for the Armenian people, rich scientific heritage, relatively good positions in the world as to the level of attracting foreign students, formation of sectors in the economy, which are already today competitive at international level (like information technologies), initiatives of the government on developing science-intensive branches and a large “academic” Diaspora”.

Speaking of the challenges there are to build a strong educational system, Manuk Hergnyan noted in particular the necessity to turn the system of higher education into an engine of economic reforms, include higher educational institutions into the process of forming competitive clusters of economy, internationalize education and make a transition to scientific-research works in the process of teaching.

As two strategies, “Economy and Values” center suggested the strategy of “large-scale attack”, which provides for full reformation of the entire system, and the strategy of “point attacks”, which provides for establishing a leading and competitive higher educational institution at an international level, which pulls up other higher educational institutions, or opening of “superiority centers”, each of which deals with one sphere of science.