Improving the Viability of Vocational Education and Training in Rural Armenian Communities: A Multi-Stakeholder Model

Abstract

The purpose of this capstone project was to explore possibilities to improve the viability of vocational education and training in the rural communities of Goris and Sisian, Armenia. Goris Partnership and Teaching NGO (P&T) is one of the country’s leading non-governmental organizations in the area of education and community partnerships. P&T began operations in 2000, supporting community development initiatives through capacity-building programs just nine years after Armenia's independence from the Soviet Union. Since 2018, P&T has observed that many students are leaving Goris and Sisian to attend university in Yerevan rather than attend local VET colleges, and that VET college programs do not adequately prepare students for employment in their home communities, provide no clear guarantee of job placement, and do not address the needs of the labor market.This quality improvement project was a mixed-methods investigation that drew on quantitative and qualitative datasets from existing secondary sources, stakeholder interviews and focus groups, as well as internal P&T organizational documents.