RA Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Vahram Dumanyan received today Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to Armenia John Gallagher․ The meeting was attended by Deputy Minister Artհur Martirosyan and Director of the “British Council” Armenia Arevik Saribekyan.

Vahram Dumanyan emphasized the importance of close cooperation with the Embassy and the British Council in terms of implementing joint programs in the fields under the coordination of the Ministry. The Minister welcomed the implementation of the “English Clubs” program in the regions of Armenia, the objective of which is promoting the teaching skills of English teachers in public schools. Vahram Dumanyan expressed hope that the funding of the terminating program will be continued and will further be expanded.

The Minister also referred to possible cooperation aimed, in particular, at improving the quality of teaching foreign languages in RA universities of medical specialties and training the lecturers of English.

Vahram Dumanyan accepted the invitation of the Armenian delegation to the Education World Forum, scheduled from May 22^nd -25^th in London, and expressed gratitude to the British Council for cooperation and willingness to assist the visit.

Ambassador John Gallagher, in turn, stated that cooperation between the two countries in the field of education and culture is one of the important directions. He noted that he had recently visited one of the schools in Ararat region where the English Clubs program is being implemented and was impressed by the progress. The Ambassador was hopeful that the program will have a positive impact and will be implemented throughout the general education system. He assured that the participation of the Armenian delegation in the Education World Forum will be useful for meeting with representatives and officials of various structures, as well as in terms of education development and exchange of experience.

During the meeting, it was proposed to consider the possibilities of cooperation in various fields, in particular, in terms of presenting the key performance indicators of cultural and higher educational institutions (KPIs) - the best experience of the British educational system and the implementation of a number of cultural programs.

It was noted that the British Council is in close collaboration with the Ministry on various programs: the Council has developed a system for training English language teachers and has already trained about 700 teachers (this year it is planned to increase the number to 1000-1500 teachers of English). A reference was made on cooperation with regional structures in the field of culture, which is aimed at promoting culture and entrepreneurial skills.

During the meeting, the parties also considered issues related to the assistance of the British Council in the development of the RA strategy of culture, the exchange of managerial experience in the field of culture, improving students' English language skills, as well as taking the TOEFL and IELTS test for admission to the post-graduate program.