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Educational Policy Diffusion and Transfer: The Case of Armenia

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Abstract

This paper explores the quality of the implementation of the West European Bologna reforms in higher education in a post-soviet country. This process of policy diffusion is analysed using concepts of policy diffusion/transfer and innovation literature, attempting to combine both streams of literature. Despite strong motivation to improve the educational system, the reforms in Armenia are rather complex and hard to implement successfully. The main assumption was that the quality of the processes of policy diffusion and transfer was strongly determined by the quality of the dialogue among change owners and the required change knowledge that determine the dialogue. The analyses of the documents developed by policymakers and open-ended questions addressed to higher education teachers brought to the surface many problems relating to the dialogue among the change owners and the necessary change knowledge.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands

    Susanna Karakhanyan

  2. National Center for Professional Education Quality Assurance, Armenia

    Susanna Karakhanyan

  3. ICLON, Leiden University, the Netherlands

    Klaas van Veen

  4. Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands

    Theo Bergen

Authors
  1. Susanna Karakhanyan
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  2. Klaas van Veen
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  3. Theo Bergen
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Karakhanyan, S., Veen, K. & Bergen, T. Educational Policy Diffusion and Transfer: The Case of Armenia. High Educ Policy 24, 53–83 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1057/hep.2010.25

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