Armenian plenipotentiary structures do not respond to scandal in  Israel, related to the diplomas of Armenian medical universities

ArmInfo.Armenian plenipotentiary structures do not respond to scandal in Israel, related to  the diplomas of Armenian medical universities.

According to The Marker Israeli newspaper, Israel Health Care 

Ministry has not approved the diplomas of students who received an 

education in Armenia for more than a year. Moreover, the Ministry 

appealed to the Police to find out the validity of the diplomas 

issued to foreign students by Armenian medical universities.

In order to obtain clarifications on the current situation, ArmInfo 

has applied to some medical schools and to authorized bodies. 

However, it turned out that this topic does not interest 

plenipotentiary state structures, each of which tried to blame 

responsibility for another.

Thus, Anahit Haytayan,  press secretary of Ministry of HealthCare 

told ArmInfo   that this issue is not within the scope of the 

Ministry's powers and advised to apply to the Ministry of Education 

and Science.

However, the answer of the spokesman of the Ministry of Education and 

Science Luchine Markaryan was even more discouraging. According to 

Markaryan, the Ministry of Education and Science deals with global 

issues related to education, legislative regulation of the system, 

but not by individual educational institutions. From the words of the 

press secretary, it can be concluded that the international image of 

Armenian universities is not a global problem that is part of the 

interests, powers and competence of the Ministry of Education and 

Science. At the same time, Markaryan was not too lazy to give advice 

to address this issue to the medical universities of the country.

Following the advice of the ministry's press secretary, ArmInfo tried 

to take a comment from the Yerevan State Medical University named 

after Mkhitar Heratsi. Thus, press secretary of YSMU Shushan 

Danielyan stated that the information of the Israeli media does not 

refer to the YSMU. Moreover, according to her, students graduating 

from this university, occupy leading positions in the field of public 

health and in international medical organizations. "It is important 

to note that of all medical universities in the country, only Heratsi 

University has the accreditation of the National Center for the 

Quality of Vocational Education. In addition, over the past 6 years, 

the University graduated 10 students from Israel and no problems or 

complaints about their professional activities were received by the 

University. I will also add that graduates of our university work in 

40 countries around the world, and now more than 1,700 students from 

26 countries, including Israel, receive training at the M. Heratsi 

State Medical University. And also more than 4200 successful 

graduates of our university work in professional medical 

organizations in different countries of the world. Recently, the 

official bodies of Jordan recognized and tested all the medical 

specialties and basic qualifications of our university, "Danielyan 

said.

What about private medical schools, Armenian Medical University 

administration told ArmInfo correspondent that the scandal that 

erupted in Israel concerns diplomas given by another private 

educational institution - the Haybusak University. As for the 

"Armenian Medical University" itself, according to the 

administration, they never had students from abroad, since there are 

no specialists who teach at the proper level in English and the 

necessary educational material in foreign languages. "So, we have 

never had foreign students in the history of the university and we 

will not have in the near future>,the university informs. A similar 

response was received from another private medical college of the 

Mehrabyan University.

To note, Haybusak University representatives refused to  comment on 

the phone  on the current situation.  Earlier, the Israeli edition 

The Marker reported that the Israeli police are verifying the 

complaint filed by Health Care Ministry  of the country over the 

diplomas issued to medical universities  in Armenia. The Israeli 

Ministry of Health suspects that these documents may be false. It is 

reported on the activities of the whole industry, transferring Arab 

students to Armenia who could not continue their studies at 

well-known universities and who are finishing their education in 

Armenia. According to The Marker, the head of the Association of 

Dentists in the Arab Sector Phari Hassan, Israel has special agents 

who find Arab students studying medicine or dentistry in countries 

such as Jordan, Germany or Italy that did not cope with the initial 

stage of training. For these students, for a fee, agents (also 

Arabians) are offered to move to Armenia, which includes housing and 

training at local universities. Students move to Armenia, where they 

are met by a representative of this industry, also an Arab who cares 

about their needs. In institutions where they start training, it is 

not necessary to retake the passed course, they start their studies 

immediately from the second or third year of training, and receive 

diplomas for five years of study. However, it is not clear whether 

they studied at these universities at all. The publication notes that 

on the basis of these certificates, the Ministry of Health of Israel 

has not approved the diplomas of students returning from Armenia for 

more than a year.  Also in Israel issued a special warning that 

students wishing to receive training in Armenia should take into 

account that their diplomas may not be accepted. In Israel, the 

publications report that the Armenian authorities recently began to 

investigate this issue after revealing a large influx of Israelis and 

students from various Arab countries.