The Georgian Language Faculty will be established at Yerevan State Institute of Foreign Languages for the first time in Georgian-Armenian history by the decision of the Ministers of Education and Science of Georgia and Armenia, Mr. Dimitri Shashkini and Mr. Armen Ashotyan.
The mutual cooperation within the educational system of both countries as well as the new educational program envisaging special privileges for ethnic minorities studying in higher educational institutions were discussed at the meeting, held at the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia.
By the initiative of the President of Georgia, the high school graduates, who are the representatives of the ethnic minorities, will be enrolled in the higher educational institutions according to the results of the general ability tests for the first time this year. The successful students will pass one-year special language program at the higher educational institutions (60 credits) in order to study the desirable specialty in Georgian language. The higher educational institutions will define the admitting contingent quotes of 5% for Armenian students and 5% for Azeri students. The government will finance the first 100 Armenian and 100 Azeri students, who will receive the higher points in the exams. The training material for the Unified Entry Exams is being published in Armenian language from 2009.
The Faculty of Philology (Georgian Language) will be established at the University of Armenia from the next academic year. The school Olympiads will be carried out. The students of both countries will be involved in the exchange programs.
The Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia permanently implements the different programs to support the representatives of the ethnic minorities of pre-school, the school age and grown-ups in the civil integration. These programs increase the opportunities to study the national language.
The President of Georgia initiated the program The Qualified Teachers in the Regional Schools of Ethnic Minorities in 2009. This program also supports studying the national language in the ethnic minorities.
Providing the multilingual schools with the textbooks is underway. The educational environment systematically advances. The development of the teachers’ professionalism is encouraged as well.