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Higher Education in Armenia
Employability of Students
Karine Harutyunyan
Higher Education System
HE is provided by public and private HEIs .
The HE system is structured in accordance with the Bologna process, with Bachelor’s Degree (1st cycle), Master’s Degree (2nd cycle) and Doctoral degrees (3rd cycle).
HE is provided through full-time and part-time courses on free or paid basis.
HEIs offer more than 450 Educational Programs in 26 broad fields and in about 220 specialities.
Higher Education Institutions Number of HEIs in Armenia is 70
• 27 state HEIs, including
– 16 (with13 branches) HEIs under the Ministry of Education and Science subordination
– 5 HEIs established under Inter-Governmental Agreements
– 6 under subordination of other state bodies
• 35 private HEIs, including
– 31 accredited by the state
– 4 non-accredited by the state
• 8 branches of foreign Universities
Students and Staff
(2012-2013 Academic Year)
Cycle Number
of
students
Enrollment
(%)
Full
time
students
(%)
Part-
time
students
(%)
Students
paying
tuition
fee (%)
Number of
the
teaching
staff
Teaching
staff/student
ratio
1st
cycle
90145 44.9 63.8 36.2 86.9
2nd
cycle
12105 10.2 82.2 17.8 72.9
3rd
cycle
1155 2.2
Total 103405 84.3 (average)
11 967 8.6
(average)
Definitions
• Labour resources (working age population)are
the sum of all economically active and non-
active population.
• Unemployment rate is the share of unemployed
among the economically active population.
• Economically active population (labour force)
includes all employed and unemployed
population who develop labour market for
production of goods and services.
Data on Labour Resources in
Armenia
Labour
resources
(1 000 persons)
Economically
active
population
Employed
Population
Unemployed
population
Year
2 376.9 1 414.6 1 183.1 231.6 2008
2 397.6 1 418.8 1 152.8 265.9 2009
2 389.7 1 463.3 1 185.2 278.2 2010
2 286.3 1 440.9 1 175.1 265.7 2011
2 260.8 1 418.3 1 172.8 245.5 2012
Unemployment Rate (UR) in % by Education Level
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
2011 2012
15-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
50-54
55-59
60-64
65-69
70-75
Unemployed Population by Age (1000 person)
Labour Market SituationJanuary-December, 2013
Total
Number of
Vacancies
Require High
Educational
Level
Require Low
Educational
Level
Number of
People who
Found Job
9847 3606 6241 12659
Why Students in Armenia Work?
Working Students % of Full-time
Students
Worked in the formal sector before 9
Worked in the informal sector before 27.4
Work in the formal sector currently 9.6
Work in the informal sector currently 10.2
Worked on a volunteer basis before 19.8
Work on a volunteer basis currently 12
Students that have ever worked 58.7
Students that have never worked 41.3
Why Students in Armenia Work?
Reasons for Working % of Full-time Students
To be independent 52.9
To help family 43
To acquire a range of professional
skills
37.4
To have an occupation/job 20.5
To pay the tuition fee 18.9
Some students work for more than one reason
Graduate Tracer Study
12
Decisive Factors in Choosing Specialty
2%
2%
0%
0%
2%
4%
4%
7%
13%
10%
56%
1%
1%
2%
2%
4%
5%
5%
5%
10%
10%
56%Love to the chosen profession
Prestige/reputation of the profession
Good career prospects after graduation
Family preference
Good knowledge of the entrance exam subjects
Not the first choice at the entrance exams
Public HEIs
Private HEIs
The key factor in
choosing profession
is the love to the
profession
Profitable profession
13
Unemployed Graduates
Graduate Tracer Study
34,8%
5,8%
40,6%
4,5%
3,9%
2,6%
2,6%
5,2%
Lack of professional skills
and difficulty to find a matching job
Personal reasons
Unwillingness to work
Other
The main
reasons for
graduates’
unemployment
are lack of the
relevant
professional
skills, difficulty
to find a job in
the area of
expertise as
specified in the
diploma and
various personal
reasons
Difficulty to find a job in the area of expertize is most common for the
graduates with degrees in Sciences, Mathematics and Cultural Studies.
Law salary
Difficult to answer
Lack of work experience
Lack of time
14
Ways to Find Job
Graduate Tracer Study
1%
4%
1%
1%
6%
14%
15%
10%
24%
10%
40%
46%Approached employers by
personal initiative
With the help of friends and relatives
Hired by the companies where
internship was done
Through State Employment Service
Placed an announcement in mass media
Through private employment agency
Started own business
• Most often
graduates find
job when they
approach
employers by
the personal
initiative
• The smallest
number of
graduates
found job
through State
Employment
Service and
almost no one
through HEIs
career centers
Job was offered by the employer
Internet and Mass Media
15
Success Factors in Finding Job
Graduate Tracer Study
3,50
3,80
3,89
3,99
4,12
4,22
4,49Professional knowledge and skills
Self-initiative
Creative thinking
Good Knowledge of
Foreign Language
Work experience
Nepotism
Reputation of the HEI
1- No
influence of
the factor
5- High
influence of
the factor
16
Correspondence of the Graduates 1st Job to their
Qualification
28%
29%
34%
26%
26%
50%
32%
66%
32%
35%
36%
26%
48%
36%
26%
39%
38%
38%
38%
16%
47%
47%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
Law and Political Sciences
Pedagogy
Engineering, Architecture, Design
Agriculture
Arts and Sports
Medicine
Social Sciences
Humanities
Physics, Mathematics, ICT
Other Sciences
Economics and Management
Fully corresponds
Do not correspond
Graduate Tracer Study
Issues• Unemployment rate in Armenia is high (about 18% = 265,700.0 person),
especially among young people (34.8% =50,100.0 person among 20-24 year
olds and 23.1% =37,700.0 person among 25-29 year olds in 2012), and it
coexists with 9847 official vacancies.
• “HEIs can do numerous things to increase the employability of its graduates, but it cannot
guarantee their employment, as employment prospects also depend on factors that are beyond the
control of the individual university (the economic situation, the structure of the labour market,
wage levels, etc.) ”
• 58.7 % of full-time students are working or have worked during their studies in
HEIs mainly for the reasons to be independent or to acquire a range of
professional skills.
• The main reasons for graduates’ unemployment are: lack of the relevant
professional skills and difficulty to find a job in the area of expertise as specified
in the diploma (34.8% of unemployed graduates) and various personal reasons
(40,6% of unemployed graduates).
Issues• Most often graduates find job when they approach employers by the
personal initiative (46%), the smallest number of graduates find job
through State Employment Service (6%) and almost no one through HEIs
career centers.
• According to the employers opinion the HEIs in Armenia still fail to meet
the labour market requirements, thus there is a shortage of graduates with
the right skills and capabilities (for employability).
Professional expertise: i.e. subject-specific knowledge and expert thinking is
remaining the most important skills set that affects graduates’ employability.
Interpersonal skills: i.e. communication skills, teamwork skills, critical thinking,
creativity and collaboration, etc. are becoming more and more important;
• The employers:
prefer to hire people with sufficient work experience but not new graduates, as far as
work experience signals work-readiness, knowing work-life, and to some extent that the
knowledge and skills certified by the diploma have been applied successfully in practice;
in reality, by and large reluctant to collaborate with HEIs;
enable to offer a competitive starting salary.
Policies to Enhance Employability
• Implement Bologna structural reforms, including:
– National Qualification Framework and Sectoral Frameworks;
– Learning Outcome based curricula;
– relevance of the curricula to labor market;
– more flexibile structure of study programmes;
– increasing number of part-time students and possibilities for
students to work.
• Include sector specific work placements as an integral part of the
study programme. As a start state included mandatory practical
periods and internships as well as practice-based teaching/learning
and practice-oriented papers or theses in the education
programmes.
Policies to Enhance Employability • Develop close cooperation between employers and HEIs:
– include employers in the HEIs governing boards and graduates’ final
exam boards
– involve employers in the design of curriculum and study programmes in
order to make courses more relevant to their needs;
– provide better post-graduation support (facilitate relations between
graduates and companies);
– promote direct recruitment from HEIs;
– promote employers participation in debates or seminars organised by
HEIs.
• Develop HEIs’ Career Centers and encourage cooperation of employers
with the Career Centers.
• Conduct studies and analyse information about the career paths of graduates.
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