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Andrei Areshev, research fellow at the Institute of Political and Social Studies of the Black Sea-Caspian region
It seems to me that the interest in the Eurasian integration in general and in the lack of alternatives to this integration in the former Soviet Union
are becoming more obvious,
and the relevant aims related to the educational process are becoming more important.
Regarding Russian-Armenian economic cooperation, which involves fairly high-tech industries,
such as, say, nuclear construction, mining, information technology, medical technology -
at the moment there is a great number of projects,
all of which of course require an adequate educational basis.
To be honest, a lot has been destroyed in the last 20 years,
and this process, of course, gained sufficient momentum.
Those Western educational programs and cooperation models still have their peculiarities,
which in some cases do not match the cultural, economic and political realities
that exist in our countries.
In my opinion, certainly, the role of the Russian language is very important,
because we know that there are also quite serious problems, unfortunately, in Armenia in this regard.
But direct links between universities, research centers and educational structures that form from below, and are not imposed from above,
certainly, have good chances of being successfully and effectively implemented.
This co-operation should not be opportunistic in nature,
and should not be linked to any events,
and should be more systematic and advanced.
Manuk Mkrtchyan, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia
The whole history of mankind is the story of the formation of a single universal space.
Now we simply have to understand
that if in the past the major leading process was the process of spontaneous formation,
now we are manually developing it.
The Eurasian Union is another step to strengthen the artificial component.
But in any case it should be understood as a transitional step in the formation of a single universal space.
Now regarding the second point that I very much would like to draw your attention to.
You see, it is very easy, well not easy, but...
When we discuss unions or common spaces, creating a single economic space seems to be comparatively easier
than creating a common cultural and spiritual space.
The main problem now, at this moment, also in relation to cooperation within the framework of the CIS countries,
and in relation to the Bologna process in the EU,
and the problem would emerge now as well when we are going to discuss the Eurasian Union,
the problem is that economic integration always comes first.
When we focus on creating a single space, we cannot allow...
Cultural and spiritual integration should always be ahead of economic integration,
otherwise there will be a very, very big problem.
I think that different projects of cooperation in education are aimed precisely at strengthening this component -
the component of the spiritual and cultural cooperation, to make it come first and not last.
One should never let concepts in the cultural and spiritual reality obey already-established integration situations
in the sphere of the economy or other areas.
So I think that our discussion should focus now not so much on concrete, technical issues,
but on ontological grounds, which should be the basis of the formation of concepts.
Ashot Dzhazojan, chairman of the Media Congress of Journalists of Europe and Asia, the head of the master's degree program of the CIS and Baltic Countries at the Department of Journalism of Lomonosov Moscow State University
After all, we communicate easily, Armenians and Russians.
In principle, it is a reproach to all of us - to the Armenians as well as Russians -
that we cannot create a reality in which cultural and humanitarian cooperation is developing faster than economic cooperation.
In my opinion, it's our fault, because our people have been proving their relationship to each other on the metaphysical level for many centuries now,
starting with the side-chapel of St. Basil's Cathedral, which was built by Ivan the Terrible and dedicated to Gregory the Illuminator, the Armenian archbishop.
That is, we have a relationship starting from the very...
So now in the New Era, too, somehow, maybe, I think it is not a reproach, but our intelligentsia should somehow overcome it.
I can say that I have a feeling that we have very many things in common and very little that separates us.
The only main thing that separates us is that we do not have a border with Russia.
It is something that divides us for sure. And everything else, if weighed up, I think we have a lot in common.
In the field of humanities, oddly enough, despite the fact that the Armenian alphabet is so old and vast, one of the oldest and very different,
we have many things in common. It is an amazing thing, and I think a very important one.
Now, regarding practical things...
Already for 14 years we have been supervising students from the CIS and Baltic countries
at the Department of Journalism,
and I am happy to inform the audience that over the years about 140 people have graduated from the Department of Journalism,
and among them, I am very proud to say as an Armenian, our Armenian guys are very smart and interesting.
Now many of them work with Russian media in different countries,
and many of them work in Armenia, representing Armenian television, the Armenian media in Russia.
I think this project is good because ...
By the way, in this regard I want to express my gratitude to the Armenian Slavic University, to Armen Darbinyan.
It is a pity he is not here, because for a few years in a row we have been admitting students to the Department of Journalism from the Slavic University.
I want to thank you: great students have come out, they have graduated with distinction, with honours
and became rather interesting journalists, we keep ourselves informed about their publications, their work.
I think that creating professional communication through the profession is a good approach,
because Russian journalism is very interesting.
I can say from experience, since I have been in post-Soviet journalism already for twenty years,
I can say that Russian journalism, no offence to anyone else, is something of a leader in terms of freedom of expression,
in terms of developing a civil society, in terms of media independence.
Not everything is OK here, but compared to the rest of the post-Soviet space, we are doing quite well.
Why am I stressing it so much?
Each year we enrol students in the Department of Journalism at Moscow State University, in the master's degree group.
I want to tell you that there is great competition, and sometimes we are even forced to conduct interviews in order to select the best.
That is, there is still a need in Russian journalism.