University Administrators from Armenia to Visit Boston

CYSCA to Host Three-Week Training Program

On Oct. 7, 10 administrators from Armenia’s universities are scheduled to arrive in Boston for a three-week long cross-cultural training program organized by the Cambridge-Yerevan Sister City Association (CYSCA). This will be the 19th group of professionals trained through CYSCA under the U.S. State Department’s “Community Connections” program in the past 12 years. The program is funded by a U.S. government grant and local volunteers, and is administered by World Learning, Inc. The participants represent the university management in Yerevan and the regions in Armenia, and are coming to the Boston area to be trained in a comprehensive program addressing a variety of issues that are important to improving the quality of higher education in Armenia, including establishing curricula that is relevant to the workplace and creating stronger linkages with industry.

Program

The guests were selected competitively under a program administered by Project Harmony’s branch office in Yerevan. For its part, CYSCA has designed a training program including visits to several Greater Boston universities, namely Harvard, MIT, University of Massachusetts Boston, Lesley University, Northeastern University, Bentley University, and Middlesex Community College. Also included are visits to various institutions such as the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Commission on Institutions of Higher Learning, New England Board of Higher Education, Campus Compact, Harvard Alumni Association, Harvard’s Phillips Brooks House, and university Career Centers. Another component of the cross-cultural program called “Experience America” includes visits to Boston area historic and cultural sites to gain a first-hand view of American history, culture, life style, beliefs, and values. Through the generosity of CYSCA volunteers, the guests will stay at homes of local host families where they will experience the hospitality and lifestyle of an American home.

Action plans

The group will be charged with creating action plans which they will implement upon their return to Armenia. Some of the goals of this program include achieving academic excellence, quality control, measurement of success, curriculum relevance to the workplace, cooperation with industry, university partnerships, adherence to international standards, and student internships. CYSCA will conduct three formal sessions to help the guests create concrete action plans based on what they learn in this CYSCA program.

Panel discussion

 

On Oct. 21, CYSCA will present a panel discussion at the headquarters of the National Association of Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), on 395 Concord Ave. in Belmont, Mass. at 8 p.m., co-sponsored by CYSCA and NAASR. The 10 participants will share their views on issues and challenges concerning higher education in Armenia, and their impressions of American universities.

“We are privileged to have been chosen to host this prestigious group of administrators from Armenia’s universities and anticipate that our training program will give them fresh, new ideas that they can implement when they return to improve the quality and effectiveness of higher education in Armenia,” said Jack Medzorian, CYSCA’s Community Connections Program director. The CYSCA staff for this project includes Alisa Stepanian, project manager; Armine Medzorian, project administrator; Richard Boyajian, logistics manager; and past CYSCA president Suzanne Pearce assisting as project advisor.

One of the participants, Vardan Sargsyan, vice rector of the Armenian State University of Economics, commenting on the program shortly before his departure for Boston, said, “Higher education in Armenia is on its way for deep reforms. We need to import more knowledge and implement the best experience in university management. We look forward to the program organized by CYSCA in Boston’s famous universities to help us explore and understand the framework of higher education and university administration in the USA, as well as experience cultural and social activities to extend our awareness of customs, history, beliefs, and family life in the USA.”

CYSCA, a non-profit organization, was established in 1987 as a brainchild of the Peace Commission of Cambridge, Mass., to transcend governments and substitute citizens’ diplomacy to foster world peace during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. It was believed that such an organization of citizens of the two cities would decrease tensions and increase understanding and strengthen ties between the two cities based on shared values. To date, successful and ongoing exchanges have taken place between city officials, educators, students, environmental scientists, entrepreneurs, musicians, visual artists, public health specialists, travel agents, social workers, museum managers, aviation managers, and countless other groups. For more information about CYSCA, visit http://www.CYSCA.org.

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