Admissions and State Qualification Procedures for Colleges and Vocational Schools Approved

The Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Armenia, Arayik Harutyunyan, has approved the rules for admissions and state final examinations for the 2020-2021 academic year in institutions providing preliminary vocational and secondary vocational education programs.

According to the Ministry of Education and Science, the procedural changes are mainly due to the state of emergency.

• Institutions conduct admissions for free and paid places corresponding to preliminary vocational (craft) and secondary vocational education programs for the 2020-2021 academic year.
• For the on-site (stationary) competition, applicants' documents are accepted electronically from the day of publication of the admissions announcement until August 17.
• For sectoral specialties in the fields of art, health, and sports, documents are accepted from the day of publication of the announcement until 2 days before the admission exam set by the educational institution.
• For all other specialties where a specific exam is not provided, the admission competition will be conducted based on the grades from the basic education certificate, secondary education certificate, and vocational education diploma appendix.
• The admission exams for sectoral specialties will be conducted by examination committees according to a schedule approved by the director, between August 5 and 15.
• An applicant for a sectoral specialty takes one exam according to the Minister of Education and Science's Order No. 254-N dated April 5, 2012. The competition is conducted based on the grades received in the exam. In the case of equal scores, preference is given to the applicant with a higher average score from their basic education certificate, secondary education certificate, and vocational education diploma appendix.
• The exams are organized for each examination group, including up to 20 applicants. For oral exams, no more than 5 applicants can be in the examination room at the same time, ensuring social distancing and sanitary-hygienic conditions.
• To apply for the secondary vocational educational program, the applicant transfers 1000 AMD to the educational institution's account under their name and provides the receipt for the transferred amount during the electronic document submission.

State final examinations for the 2019-2020 academic year are conducted in educational institutions with state qualification commissions formed for each specialty.

• By May 25, the procedures for students' transfer and final examinations and semester grades will be set, considering the grades available in the classroom registers until March 13. After March 13, results from distance or online (electronic) teaching will not be entered in the registers.
• If a student received a grade lower than their previous semester's score before March 13, the previous semester's grade will be assigned.
• If a student has not received a grade for a specific subject (module) before March 13, the previous semester's grade will be assigned.
• If a transfer course student passed a subject (module) only in the second semester and has no grade, but attended distance or online classes, a review for that subject (module) will be organized by the educational institution within the first two weeks of September, where the student will be evaluated.
• If a transfer course student passed a subject (module) only in the second semester, has no grade, and did not attend distance or online classes, the institution will set an individual study schedule for that subject (module) in September.
• Exam grades for general education subjects will be set based on the average of the semester grades.
• Grades for practical and production practices will be assigned based on the theoretical part grades, while pre-graduation practice grades will be the average of practical and production practice grades.
• The state qualification commission will organize the state final examination in the educational institution after assigning students' grades and semester results, but no later than May 30, 2020.
• Before the start of state examinations, the commission will be presented with summaries of students' grades obtained throughout their studies (as indicated in the diploma appendix).
• By June 5, 2020, graduates will be provided with the graduation document (diploma with appendix) while maintaining sanitary-hygienic measures and social distancing.