Analysis of Public Administration programs in Caucasus countries FINAL.pdf · 2015-04-14 · 3 Analysis of Public Administration programs in Caucasus countries Introduction This analysis

Analysis of Public Administration programs in Caucasus countries

Authors: Juraj Nemec, Slovak Republic György Gajduschek, Hungary David Špaček, Czech Republic

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Copyright © 2015 by NISPAcee The Network of Institutes and Schools of Public Administration in Central and Eastern Europe http://www.nispa.org


Analysis of Public Administration programs in Caucasus countries was developed within the framework of V4EaP Extended Standard project No. 21370078: „Capacity Building of Caucasus Academic PA Programmes on the basis of EU Administrative Principles“ jointly implemented by project partners:

NISPAcee - The Network of Institutes and Schools of Public Administration in Central and Eastern Europe, Slovak Republic LTD "Caucasus University , Georgia Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University, Armenia Khazar University, Azerbaijan Juraj Nemec, Slovak Republic Gyorgy Gajduschek, Hungary Patrycja Suwaj, Poland David Spacek, Czech Republic

with the support of International Visegrad Fund (www.visegradfund.org).

Authors: Juraj Nemec, Slovak Republic György Gajduschek, Hungary David Špaček, Czech Republic Reviewers: Marina Mikeladze, Georgia Nino Kakubava, Georgia Sergi Kapanadze, Georgia Irena Melua, Georgia Mariam Voskanyan, Armenia Edward Sandoyan, Armenia Raziya Isayeva, Azerbaijan Nagi Bayramli, Azerbaijan Patrycja Suwaj, Poland

The opinions of the authors and reiewers do not necessarily reflect the views of project partners and International Visegrad Fund. NISPAcee is an international association focused on public administration. Its mission is to promote and strengthen the effective and democratic governance and modernisation of public administration and policy throughout the NISPAcee region.

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Introduction

This analysis is one of the core outputs from the project “Capacity Building of Caucasus Academic PA Programs on the basis of EU Administrative Principles” supported by the International Visegrad Fund. The analysis will be supplemented by a second document on Recommendations.

The primary aim of the project is to share the knowledge and experience of V4 and Caucasus in public administration teaching, training and research for institutional and administrative capacity building, based on EU administrative principles.

This analysis is delivered on the basis of the prepared and agreed project guidelines for the monitoring and analysis of existing PA programs in the Caucasus area. The guidelines were prepared by all participating experts, discussed on-line and during the project meeting in Budapest in May, 2014 and approved by all the project partners.

The guidelines set down the rules for analysing and evaluating PA programs in the Caucasus Universities and were developed on the basis of an internationally accepted set of evaluation criteria. The guidelines distinguish between two levels of analysis:

1. Monitoring of PA programs in the Caucasus area: collecting basic data about the situation and its analysis.

2. Evaluation of PA programs in the Caucasus area: preliminary or comprehensive evaluation of the quality of a given program, based on the experience gained from two important public administration accreditation systems – the system of CIAPA (Commission of International Accreditation of Public Administration, United Nations and International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration initiative) and the accreditation criteria of EAPAA (European Association for Public Administration Accreditation).

Both levels of our investigations are based on information concerning PA programs in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, provided by partners and respective schools during the project period and also during the workshop and conference organised in March, 2015 in Tbilisi, Georgia.

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PA programs in the Caucasus area – basic information

Following the guidelines prepared for monitoring PA programs, we were able to identify basic information on PA education in the Caucasus region. The summary of what PA programs are offered in the three countries of the region can be seen in the following Table.

Table 1 - PA programs in the Caucasus area – summary Coun

try University Faculty Program Level Head of the

program Responsible person,

contact Web page

ARM

ENIA

Russian-Armenian University (RAU)

Institute of Economics and Business

Public Administration

Master of Arts in Management

Suvaryan Arzik Doctor of Economics, Professor

Mariam Voskanyan, PhD, Associate Professor Head of Chair of Economic theory and issues of transition economy [email protected]

http://www.rau.am/eng

European University in Armenia / European Educational Regional Academy

Economy and Management


Bachelor of Arts in Management

H. Marzpanyan, Narine Kirakosyan, Chair of the Management in the European Educational Regional Academy

H. Marzpanyan Narine Kirakosyan, Chair of the Management in the European Educational Regional Academy E-mail [email protected]

http://www.eriicta.am/

Master of Arts in Management

Public Administration Academy of the Republic of Armenia

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND PUBLIC FINANCE

PA Program

MA Grisha Gspoyan, Head of the Chair: candidate of geographical sciences, Associate Professor

Tereza Khechoyan, Vice-Rector for International Relations, Associate Professor; Department of PA & Public Finance [email protected]

www.paara.am

Armenian State University of Economics

CHAIR OF MANAGEMENT

PA Program

BA, MA Yuri Suvaryan Full member of National Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Economic Sciences, Professor

Yuri Suvaryan Full member of National Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Economic Sciences, Professor

http://www.asue.am/ru

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AZ

ERBA

IJAN

Azerbaijan State Economic University

Economy and regulation of social sphere

PA program / State Standard approved by the Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan Republic

MA Prof. Alirzayev Ali Raqif Muallim

Telephone: +994 12 465 28 73 +99450 320 72 27 050560 0920 Bayim Nabiyeva, International Office [email protected]

www.aseu.az/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=301:sosial-sferan%C4%B1n-iqtisadiyyat%C4%B1-v%C9%99-idar%C9%99-olunmas%C4%B1&Itemid=167&lang=en

The Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Administration management, PA & management

PA / State Standard approved by the Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan Republic

BA, MA

Xatira Huseynova

+99412 4978331 http://www.dia.edu.az/ELDAR.php

Naxchivan State University

Social Management and Law


BA, MA Hafiz Huseynov 050 4423535

Nakhchivan city, Nakhchivan State University University campus, AZ 7012 Tel: (+99436) 544-07-54 Roya Seferli [email protected]

http://ndu.edu.az/en/content/185/

Qafqaz University

Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences

Public Administration / State Standard approved by the Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan Republic

BA, MA Zafar Hasanov, Head of Project Development and Technology Transfer Department

Khirdalan city, Hasan Aliyev str. 120,Baku,Absheron,AZ0101, Azerbaijan Telephone: +99412 4482862-66 Fax: 99412 4482861 [email protected] Zafar Hasanov [email protected]

http://pa.qu.edu.az/

ADA University

School of Public

Public Policy

BAPA, MPP Vener Qarayev Vener Qarayev [email protected]

www.ada.edu.az

Baku Business University

Economy and management faculty, Industry Organization and Municipal management


BA, MA Ibrahim Mammadov

Tel: (+99412) 4317951, (+99412) 4319118 Fax: (+99412) 4300780 [email protected] Address: 88a H. Zardabi St. Baku, Azerbaijan, AZ1011 International relations office – +994 12 4317951 (132)

http://bbu.edu.az/az/about/32

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GEO

RGIA

Caucasus University

Caucasus School of Governance


MA Sergi Kapanadze Dean of the School [email protected]

Nino Kakubava [email protected]

www.cu.edu.ge BA

University of Georgia, School of Business, Economics and Management

School of Business, Economics and Management


BA

Nodar Kherkheulidze Head of PA program 577987802 [email protected]


www.ug.edu.ge

School of Business, Economics and Management


MA Nodar Kherkheulidze Head of PA program 577987802 [email protected]


Ilia State University

School of Arts and Science

Public Policy and Administration

MA Archil Abashidze Head of the PA program 599 45 10 52 [email protected]

Archil Abashidze Head of the PA program 599 45 10 52 [email protected]

http://www.iliauni.edu.ge/

Javakhishvili State University

Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Department of Political Science

Public Administration and Public Policy

MA Nana Macharashvili Head of PA program 555575020 [email protected]

Nana Macharashvili Head of PA program 555575020 [email protected]

www.tsu.edu.ge

International Black Sea University

Faculty of Social Sciences


BA Ivanna Machitidze International Relations and Public Administration program Head 57136 36 40 [email protected]

Ivanna Machitidze International Relations and Public Administration Program Head 57136 36 40 [email protected]

www.ibsu.edu.ge

Grigol Robakidze University

School of Public Administration and Politics

Public Administration and Politics

BA Ana Partskhalashvili Head of the PA program 595 22 77 30 [email protected]

Ana Partskhalashvili Head of the PA program 595 22 77 30 [email protected]

www.gruni.edu.ge

Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA), School of Government

School of Government

PA Public Policy Local Governance

MA Nino Dolidze Head of the PA program 591 19 43 19; [email protected]

Nino Dolidze Head of the PA program 591 19 43 19; [email protected]

www.gipa.ge

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Samtskhe-Javakheti State University, Faculty of Law

School of Government


BA Malkhaz Lomsadze Dean of the School of Law 599 10 83 50 [email protected]

Malkhaz Lomsadze Dean of the School of Law 599 10 83 50 [email protected]

www.astu.edu.ge

Tbeli University



BA Razhden Putkaradze Head of PA program

Temur Tunadze Head of Quality Assurance Department 59943 03 68

www.tbeli.ge

Akaki Tsereteli State University, Kutaisi



BA David Gegechkori Head of Public Administration Program 577 13 15 35

David Gegechkori Head of Public Administration Program 577 13 15 35

www.atsu.edu.ge MA

Iakob Gogebashvili Telavi State University

Faculty of Social Science


BA Irma Shioshvili Head of the PA program 599 19 44 22

Irma Shioshvili Head of the PA program 599 19 44 22

www.tesau.edu.ge

Georgian Technical University

Faculty of Business Administration


BA Shota Dogonadze Program Director 577 405 677 [email protected]

Shota Dogonadze Program Director 577 405 677 [email protected]

http://www.gtu.ge

MA http://www.gtu.ge

Free University of Georgia

School of Governance and Social Sciences

undergraduate program in Governance and Social Sciences

BA N/A N/A N/A

Gori State University

School of Social Sciences Business and Law


BA N/A N/A www.gu.edu.ge

St. Tbel Abuseridze University, Khulo/ Tbeli University


BA

Sukhishvili´s teaching University


BA N/A N/A N/A

Free University of Tbilisi

Policy Analysis

Thanks to the monitoring part of the project, we gathered particularly basic information about the programs (name, degree, university and faculty). In most cases we also obtained information on the mission of programs and program structure (list of compulsory and elective courses). Although required, we were not provided with graduate profiles in the vast majority of PA programs identified.

After the monitoring phase, the Caucasus project partners were asked to indicate which programs from the region would try to obtain pre-evaluation and comprehensive evaluation. In the case of programs asking for pre-evaluation, the project guidelines required their representatives (in cooperation with

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Caucasus project partners) to provide our project team, in particular, with the following information: program structure (if not provided during the monitoring), mechanisms in place for continual program evaluation, syllabi and CVs of academic staff involved in the program. We also anticipated that syllabi and CVs would be standardised according to the template prepared for the purposes of the project. In case of a comprehensive evaluation, the aim was to evaluate programs according to EAPAA accreditation (particularly on the basis of peer-reviewed self-evaluation reports that would be prepared by representatives of the program).

For the purposes of the workshop organised in March 2015 in Tbilisi, Caucasus project partners were also required to summarise the background information on their countries, namely information on the PA system and applied requirements on the education of civil servants, history of PA education, current situation in PA education (including the accreditation mechanisms) and current situation in PA research.

In the following text we outline the main findings on national contexts and on the programs which were evaluated.

PA programs in the Caucasus area: Evaluation of the existing situation

On the basis of information provided by the partners we can formulate the main conclusions about the current situation of PA academic education in the Caucasus region. The first group of comments is valid for the entire region and the second and third are country/program specific. Unfortunately, our report cannot be too positive – much has to be done to reach real international standards (especially in a situation with limited local resources and top down motivation).

A: Common issues

1. The first very important (negative) finding is that there is very limited - almost non-existent - cooperation between PA programs within the country and also in the region. During the mapping of the structure of existing programs several schools refused to provide any information to their peers from project partners´ institutions. There is no national or regional association helping to improve and promote PA education and training. This issue is not part of the international quality standards used for the evaluation of PA programs, but harms any progress (and also indicates that programs may be rather weak). Surprisingly, more international than local and regional cooperation is the feature of this region (some schools have highly ranked international partners in developed countries).

2. The second core set of findings is connected with the core quality standard “Faculty”. The following core problems are identified:

a. In no country did the staff, even professors, publish in any relevant peer reviewed international journals (we checked dozens of CVs, but did not find one paper in the WoS journal in the discipline). The quality of publications is the main issue that will be addressed.

b. The involvement in main international PA organisations is also rather limited – only a few teachers participate in NISPAcee conferences and almost all other conference outputs by the staff have a local or regional character.

c. Only in a few Georgian schools did a significant proportion of staff have an education or training from developed countries or speak fluent English. In most cases, the majority of

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staff speaks local languages (and Russian) which is not sufficient to be in contact with the discipline’s progress. High quality experts from practice or English speaking scholars are sometimes hired on a part-time basis (Azerbaijan, Georgia).

d. Because of limited resources, some programs rely on too small a group of core “own” full-time staff and most education is delivered by part-time staff.

e. A positive finding is the substantial involvement of practitioners (people with practical experience) in the educational process, especially in Georgia; however, some schools indicate that the interest of public administration practice to cooperate with universities is rather limited (especially Azerbaijan).

3. Weak library resources: this issue is a typical feature of all transitional countries and the main reasons are a lack of finance to purchase international textbooks and journals and to produce a local resource base, but also the issue of teaching style (focusing on contact hours and not the individual work of students). Improved cooperation may create economies of scale with the potential for creating local resources that are crucial. US textbooks that are frequently used for teaching in most courses do not really suit local conditions.

4. Mismatch between what is demanded in the market and what is offered by higher education: supply based curricula. It is evident from most curricula that there is a rather limited or almost no link between mission, vision, profile of the graduate and the program curricula (most programs do not have a clear opinion of what their “product” is). The quality of curricula also significantly differs. Few programs have relatively well-developed (by international – such as EAPAA – standards) curricula, but many provide programs which are not well structured. In many cases, the levels of BA and MA are not well reflected in the curricula structure. The specific issues are the national standards, which are discussed below. The curricula especially lack policy analysis and research methods courses.

5. Inadequate monitoring and evaluation policies/procedures by national governments. During the project meetings we discussed national accreditation systems – all of which are state dominated, with an almost zero level of internationalization and without clear transparent qualifying criteria to become eligible to deliver a PA program.

6. Insufficient implementations of tools to fight rampant plagiarism – student works are not screened for plagiarism and many of the existing books and articles written by staff are not really original.

7. Problems with the commitment from practitioners to higher education: several universities make efforts to recruit those who work in public administration, the political sphere which have benefits in terms of experience-sharing practitioners and students, but the academic impact is insufficient, because practitioners are not well-tuned to academic credentials, and especially not ready to deliver real academic work.

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B: Country and program specific issues

1. From the point of view of the size of the region and of participating countries, there exist many programs (the number of programs in the country per number of inhabitants) in Georgia. Thirteen institutions delivering PA education in such a small country is very interesting. We discussed this issue during the project meetings and there are some possible explanations:

a. PA studies are relatively popular for citizens and there is a demand for the high number of programs (however, not all graduates work in PA).

b. The national accreditation system does not check the real quality of staff responsible for a proposed program.

c. The non-existence of a national standard leads to delivering “supply based curricula”, constructed on the base of existing local capacities.

2. Limited access to information – a very surprising and almost common negative finding is the fact that most programs hide the necessary information regarding the curricula, syllabi and staff. Not only in English for the international audience, but also in the local language – most web pages provide a basic description of the program, but do not contain more detailed info about the curriculum and staff. The experts do not really understand how future applicants can learn about the pre-selected program and compare options.

3. The common feature for many programs is very limited internationalisation and international co-operation.

4. National standards - programs in Azerbaijan and Armenia are restricted by the system of national (Azerbaijan, Armenian and Russian) standards for PA curricula. In particular, the Azerbaijan national curricula do not follow international practice, neglecting many important courses – see their structure:

Public Administration Bachelor Degree Program – State Standards Azerbaijan

According to the State Standard, approved by the Ministry of Education of the Azerbaijan Republic, the bachelor degree on Public Administration will cover a 4-year study and students will have to gather 240 ECTS to graduate. The program comprises three parts: Humanities 30 ECTS

1. History of Azerbaijan 7 2. Azerbaijan Language 5 3. Foreign Language 12 4. Elective courses 6

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Major 180 ECTS 1. Theories of Management 5 2. Microeconomics 7 3. Macroeconomics 6 4. Linear Algebra and Mathematical Analysis 7 5. Statistical analysis 5 6. Econometrics 7 7. World Economy 5 8. Azerbaijan Economy 5 9. Accounting 5 10. Audit 5 11. Finance 5 12. Banking 5 13. Marketing 5 14. Human Resource Management 5 15. Information Technology Applications 5 16. Information Communication Technologies 5 17. Business Communication 3 18. Environmental Economy 5 19. Regulations of Economy 5 20. Civil Service 5 21. Law 5 22. Public Relations 4 23. Municipal Management 5 24. Public Administration Theory 5 25. Ethics of Civil Service 5 26. Civil Defense 3 27. Electives 34

Practicum and Final Assessment - 30 ECTS

According to expert knowledge, Russian standards are the best because they provide a certain freedom for adapting the curricula to the graduate’s profile. This type of freedom should be utilised more.

5. The course syllabi, in many cases, indicate many common problems for most of the existing programs:

a. lack of local literature, even for the main courses (the use of classic US books is not the best option for countries with a different environment),

b. the lists of required readings differ significantly – for some courses only one book is recommended, for others, too many,

c. the methods of examining differ significantly; in some cases oral examinations or even multiple choice testing are the main forms, but for other programs a mix of forms is used,

d. the methods for calculating workload are not really clear,

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e. some programs rely too much on external teachers (having visiting professors from practice is highly recommended, but any good quality program should be based on the core unit of full-time, program-based academics with the required profile).

PA programs in the Caucasus area – summary of findings

The project also offered as a value add, a specific extra service to all PA programs in the Caucasus area – an “evaluation”, based on program requests and under the following conditions:

Articulated willingness to participate with, collect and provide the project team with necessary information.

Existing personnel and technical capacities necessary to cooperate with “evaluators”.

The “Evaluation” was expected to have two forms:

(a) Pre-evaluation: For any program applying for the pre-evaluation, two Visegrad experts were selected as evaluators and facilitators. Their main goal was to evaluate the basic features of the program according to international benchmarks and provide recommendations for improvement (especially on the basis of the Standards of Excellence in PA education and EAPAA standards).

(b) Comprehensive evaluation: For any program applying for the comprehensive evaluation, two Visegrad experts and one Caucasus expert were selected as evaluators and facilitators. Their main goal was to evaluate the program according to international benchmarks (following EAPAA procedures), but without a site visit, if not requested and paid for by the relevant Caucasus university/program. The aim would be to evaluate whether the program could apply for EAPAA accreditation and provide recommendations as to how the program could reach international level.

As indicated by Caucasus project partners, 2 programs intended to obtain a comprehensive evaluation from the project (the program offered by the School of Governance of the Caucasus University, and the program offered by the School of Arts and Science of the University of Georgia); 3 programs showed their willingness to be pre-evaluated (program offered by the School of Business, Economics and Management of the University of Georgia; program of the School of Arts and Science of Ilia State University, and the program of the Javakhishvilli University. Representatives of the remainder of the programs expressed their willingness to receive pre-evaluation, but were unable to prepare the necessary information in English.

Due to issues related to the collection of input from the analysis, according to the agreed time plan of the project, only pre-evaluations were carried out following EAPAA accreditation criteria in particular. We tried to identify and evaluate the link between the mission, structure, content and the faculty of the program. We also looked at the teaching methods and examinations in individual courses (if these were described in the syllabi received). We also tried to judge the relationship between the programs and practice.

During the early phase of analysis it was discovered that no program in the region could apply today for full international (EAPAA, CIAPA) accreditation, so a “comprehensive evaluation” was not possible and all interested programs received a pre-evaluation.

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The following programs were pre-evaluated

1. Caucasus University Tbilisi, Georgia (BA and MA programs) 2. University of Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia (BA program) 3. Ilia University Tbilisi, Georgia (MA program) 4. Public Administration Academy of the Republic of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia (MA program) 5. Russian-Armenian University, Yerevan, Armenia (MA program) 6. European University, European Educational Regional Academy, Armenia (BA and MA program) 7. ADA University, Azerbaijan (MA program) 8. Quafqaz University, Azerbaijan (MA program).

In the following text we summarize the main findings of our analysis.

Mission statements

Mission statements are typically formulated in a very general way. Our impression, based on interviews with some program managers, was that mission statements are considered “foreign” and an exogenously expected formal exercise. A program description should have a mission statement, so there is one. In other words: a mission statement does not have a real function. It does not serve as a summary of the “philosophy” or the ultimate goal of the program.

Most importantly, mission statements are not based on a needs assessment: neither the needs of the students are assessed1 nor the needs of the government, more specifically the public administration2,

Mission statements typically do not provide guidance on which image of the executive is reflected in the program. Seemingly, in most cases, the divide between major approaches3 is not understood or considered as relevant. In fact, as we will see later, an unconscious choice is made, as most programs reveal an extreme management-type content.

It is clear that there is a certain trade-off between the two types of needs, i.e. the present market need indicated by students’ applications and the real needs of government. Forming a curriculum that fits well to the ideal of a civil servant may not at all make the program attractive for potential students, as most of them cannot and/or do not want to find a position in public administration. Furthermore, the “ideal of civil servant” is quite vague in these countries as the government has not yet formed one.

Curriculum

The most striking fact is that in most cases, the curricula of the PA programs were not available to the public, presumably not even for students applying for admittance. We were told this is kept “confidential” 1 In fact most universities, especially in Georgia, where there is large competition between very many programs, react to market (future students´) demand needs. They need to do so, as the tertiary education is run almost solely by market forces. Beginning the relatively popular PA programs and putting together their curricula in a similar manner to a business management program reflects this fact. This is, however, done intuitively, reacting to needs, instead of pro-acting based on a conscious understanding of the situation. 2 We learned that the curricula hardly reflect the needs of public administration. Most importantly, it seems that someone who successfully obtains a BA and/or an MA degree still needs to learn a lot to be able to pass the civil service entry exam. Such exams exist in Armenia and Azerbaijan. Also, government agencies prefer law students to PA students in most generalist positions. 3 For the sake of simplicity, these images may be differentiated: (a) public administration, with more emphasis on law, and constitutional arrangements (polity); (b) public management, with the emphasis on management skills; or (c) public policy with more emphasis on research and analytic skills, handling complex and non-structured policy problems, etc.

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by universities, as a kind of secret “know-how”. It is not clear if this stems from the culture (secrecy, lack of trust, etc.) or hiding the weaknesses of the programs.

In Azerbaijan, Armenia (and Russia) there is a compulsory curriculum set up by the government for bachelor PA programs that largely limits the individualization of the university curriculum.

As interviews revealed, the curriculum has been influenced more by supply than demand, i.e. “what can we teach and what kind of instructors do we have?” and is crucial instead of what is needed. This is highly understandable as, in a business arrangement, one may economize relying on available resources as long as demand is not striking and due to the lack of a clear image of a PA program, such demand does not exist.

Regarding available curricula, apparently there is no relatively stable and clear idea on what exactly should be included in a PA curriculum. In certain programs, quite surprising courses (e.g. two pedagogy courses in a 16-course curriculum) are included.

Quite typically, in all three countries, a large part of the curriculum, sometimes about half of all courses, include economics-related topics and management also plays a major role. Another, relatively large part of the curricula is devoted to management. However, most management courses have no reference to the specificity of non-profit management, or more specifically, public management (typically only about 10-30% of all courses). Reading the syllabi of these management courses we frequently find no reference to public administration. It is quite evident in cases of human resources management (without reference to civil service laws), IT (without reference to privacy rules, constraints on using personnel data; on state secret rules and the opposite of transparency of public information), or financial management without reference to budgeting. The Azeri obligatory curriculum has an HRM course and another on civil service without any reference to one another.

At the same time, public-specific, and especially PA-specific courses are rare, sometimes only 10-20% of all courses are devoted specifically to PA. The choice of these courses seems to be quite accidental. For instance the Azeri obligatory curriculum contains only two such courses (outside the civil service), Municipal Management and Public Administration Theory (sic!). However, we found similar arrangements in other universities’ curricula, including both state and private universities.

The sporadic presence of government and/or PA-specific courses is so prevalent that sometimes it is not clear – after reading the curriculum and course syllabi – how the students would learn about the most basic issues of polity or constitutional framework of the country, such as the structure of government, the major division of responsibilities between various parties (president, Cabinet, Ministers, agencies, local agency units, municipalities), the administrative structure of the executive or basic procedural rules, etc. Law, (public and/or administrative) was, in several cases, not included in the curriculum, whereas in other cases a course was devoted to this topic. We found only one out of the nine curricula analysed in-depth that had more classes devoted to law. This fact is in sharp contrast to the fact that in practice and, to some degree also reflected in the civil service exam, law is considered as a major competency for civil servants. In most countries law graduates usually take preference over PA graduates when filling vacant civil service positions.

The dominant economic-management approach, as opposed to the public administration approach, may be due to several factors and we are not able to gauge the importance of these. This could simply reflect market needs, as students look for a diploma that may be useful in several fields and not one that ties them strongly to government. Government employment may not be attractive, with its low salaries in most cases, or they may not obtain employment in government. The present curricula leaves all fields (public, NGO and business) of opportunities open for them.

Another explanation may be that this is an impact of the Anglo-American approach, reinforced by transition, the NPM and the foreign – typically US financed – advice, largely promoting the idea that public and private management are “fundamentally alike”. Indeed, in a few cases, PA programs were elaborated

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by the intensive assistance, participation or rather lead of US universities (such as the New York University for Ilia State University, Georgia.)

In other words, the typical composition of the curricula would most likely be considered too managerial even in the most management-oriented US universities, and thus highly inadequate for the needs of the PA system of the countries in the region.

Syllabi

In several cases, the basic issues are not addressed. The expected learning outcomes are rarely defined or if they are (as per the accreditation rule in Georgia) the impression is, similar to that of mission statements, that it is considered to be a foreign exercise requested for formal reasons. Very rarely does it serve as the starting point at which the course is based. A relatively detailed description of topics/issues, discussed and “processed”, typically on a weekly basis, is part, perhaps even the central part of most curricula. Readings are also indicated, though this seems to be somewhat unrealistic in some cases. The way students are evaluated is frequently missing, as we learned, because the written exam is almost solely applied. It seems it is a legal requirement in some countries.

Training material

The major problem in all three countries was that there are no endogenous course books on practically any of the necessary major fields in PA education. There is no book presenting the constitutional-structural arrangement in the country to be used as a course book, not one theory of public administration, or public finance, etc. We learned that currently, attempts are being made to formulate such books in Georgia.

Instead, in several cases, US-based books are used, most of all in the field of public administration (as a general, introductory course book) and several other fields. These books may be quite difficult and expensive to obtain. Furthermore, they may be very difficult for students to read (generally and especially at BA level). If there are 3-4 courses in a semester, reading one such book (and nothing else) still means that students have to read, understand and process well over 50 pages per week in a foreign language (written with different letters), and learning and understanding terminology (which they may not be aware of in their native language), etc. This requires an enormous effort, which the average student will find difficult to make. This, in turn, raises questions about the reliability of course requirements.

Most importantly, however, the validity of these US books to the post-socialist countries’ reality, in fact, even to European reality, is highly questionable. In several cases they could even be seriously misleading, especially if they are not contrasted with the country’s reality.

Faculty

As we learned – at least in the case of private universities – most of the instructors (from professors to assistant professors) are part-time employees of the universities. They work in various positions, in some cases for the government, but frequently in other jobs. For this reason they may not feel so strongly linked to the university and their evaluation in their main job is most likely based on other than academic achievements.

Qualification

In only three cases have we received information on the professional composition and qualities of the faculty (i.e. CVs of faculty members). In these cases, which are presumably amongst the better ones, we found the following major characteristics:

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In several cases we could not identify at all the level of degree instructors hold.4 In most cases and at most universities, instructors responsible for a given course do not hold a PhD. This is partly due to the fact that PA programs have existed for less than two decades and PhD programs in this field for an even shorter period.5

In fact, a PhD requirement is a somewhat alien and irrelevant condition as education at the MA level in a foreign university (which some instructors hold, especially in Azerbaijan) may require more effort and indicate more achievements than a local PhD.

Academic achievements

Research activity is rarely indicated in CVs. Publications and other indicators of academic achievements are not included in the overwhelming majority of CVs. There was only one CV out of approximately one hundred which provided basic information in this regard. We could not identify anyone with an acceptable record of publications in a foreign language or references. Actually, there were less than half a dozen mentioning a publication in English, typically from some sort of conference proceedings. We could not identify any publication in a double blind peer-reviewed journal, let alone a periodical with an impact factor. However, in several cases, the instructors allegedly have never published any scholarly paper during their university career. The reason is partly due to the fact that universities have not traditionally been responsible for research (it is thus not in the organizational culture) and also because several instructors are only part-time personnel and their reference group may be that of another position and not at all from academia.

Other characteristics

Certain universities have instructors who have strong practical experience. Some of them previously worked in high level government positions, whilst others currently work elsewhere (as we indicated above). At a few universities, instructors have intensive foreign experience (both practical and academic). This could be a good basis for practice-oriented education, which is greatly reduced by the given culture and belief about the role of a university.

In the case of some universities, a number of courses and the literature used indicate that programs, to a large extent, follow a socialist style of education (they concentrate on theory and knowledge, rather than skills etc.).

Also, a relationship between BA and MA level is not clear for most universities. The MA programs may repeat BA courses etc.

We will go back to some of the issues outlined in the document Recommendations in more detail.

Conclusions

Unfortunately, all existing programs in the Caucasus region need to be developed before becoming eligible for standard international accreditation. As clearly shown by our analysis, the core issue is qualitative staff development. This issue can be addressed only via internationalisation – and NISPAcee is ready to support all programs willing to progress (NISPAcee conferences, PhD courses and possible scholarships organised via member institutions, publishing houses and Journals are already existing important options).

4 It is our understanding that this is because it is difficult to translate previous “Soviet” degrees to current English degrees. We believe that the previous College (or Technicum) type degrees with a 3-4 year learning period are identical to a BA. University degrees require typically 5 or even 6 years to MA, and Kandidate Nauk goes to PhD degree. 5 For instance, in Georgia, there is only one university that can issue a PhD in PA.

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As indicated in the introductory section, this document is supplemented by Report 2 on Recommendations.

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Table 1 - Availability on data on PA programs in the Caucasus area - summary COUNTRY UNIVERSITY PA

PROGRAM AVAILABLE DATA

WWW Basic informati

on

Mission Graduate profile

Program structure

Syllabi Staff What evaluation they want?

ARMENIA 1. Russian-Armenian University (RAU)

Master of Arts in Management, program Public Administration

http://www.rau.am/eng Master; Armenian, Russian and European Level.

Only partly (aims).

Partial information (abilities + skills).

10 Core + 11 Elective Courses, number of ECTS.

Yes (learning outcomes, structure, literature, NO INFO ON EXAMINATION)

CVs, but very limited information on research outputs

Comprehensive

2. European University in Armenia

Public Administration Specialization of the program Bachelor of Arts in Management

http://www.eriicta.am/ BA Only partial (aims and objectives, learning outcomes).

Study plan, 18 core and 16 elective, number of ECTS.

No (only a few).

Only one CV.

Comprehensive

Public Administration Specialization of the program Bachelor of Arts in Management

http://www.eriicta.am/ MA Only partial (aims and objectives, learning outcome.

Study plan, 2 core courses, 18 elective, number of ECTS.

No (only a few).

Only one CV

Comprehensive

3. Public Administration Academy of the Republic of Armenia

Public administration

www.paara.am MA No. No. No. Yes. No. Comprehensive

4. Armenian State

Public administrati

http://www.asue.am/ru BA No interest. They have

19


University of Economics

on their own international contacts with American and European universities.

MA

COUNTRY UNIVERSITY PA PROGRAM

WWW Basic informati

on


Program structure

Syllabi Staff What evaluation

do they want?

AZERBAIJAN

1. Azerbaijan State Economic University

MA www.aseu.az/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=301:sosial-sferan%C4%B1n-iqtisadiyyat%C4%B1-v%C9%99-idar%C9%99-olunmas%C4%B1&Itemid=167&lang=en

2. The Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

BA, MA http://www.dia.edu.az/ELDAR.php

3. Naxchivan State University

BA, MA http://ndu.edu.az/en/content/185/

4. Qafqaz University

BA, MA http://pa.qu.edu.az Only a list of courses without any info on core/elective.

5. Khazar

20


University

6. ADA University

Master of Public Policy at ADA University

http://www.ada.edu.az/en-US/Pages/mpp_curriculum.aspx MA Only general aims on the website.

Not available on the website.

15 Core + 8 Elective.

No, only one paragraph of basic information on courses available on the website.

Not available on the website.

7. Baku Business University

BA, MA http://bbu.edu.az/az/about/32

COUNTRY UNIVERSITY PA PROGRAM

WWW Basic informati

on


Program structure

Syllabi Staff What evaluation they want?

GEORGIA 1. Caucasus School of Governance

MA in Public Administration

www.cu.edu.ge

MA Only partly (aims)

No. Only list of courses.

Yes, partially.

CVs, Partially.

Comprehensive

BA in Public Administration

BA Only partly (aims)


Yes, partially.

CVs, Partially.

Comprehensive

2. University of Georgia, School of Business, Economics and Management


www.ug.edu.ge BA Yes. No. Only list of courses.

Yes, partially.

CVs, Partially.

Pre-evaluation


MA Only partly.


Yes, partially.

CVs, Partially.

No, being revised.

3. Ilia State University, School of Arts and Science

MA Public Administration

http://www.iliauni.edu.ge/ MA Only partly.


Yes, CVs, Partially.

Pre-evaluation

4. Javakhishvili State University

MA in Public Administration and Public Policy

www.tsu.edu.ge MA Only list of courses.

Pre- Evaluation

5. Internationa

BA in Public Administrati

www.ibsu.edu.ge BA

21


l Black Sea University (IBSU)

on

6. Grigol Robakidze University, School of Public Administration and Politics

BA in Public Administration and Politics

www.gruni.edu.ge BA Only partly (aims)

Only core courses and their list.

Not interested.

7. Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA), School of Government


www.gipa.ge

Only partly (aims)

Not interested.

8. Samtskhe-Javakheti State University, Faculty of Law


www.astu.edu.ge Only partly (aims)

Only list of courses.

Interest, but no EN information.

9. Tbeli University, Faculty of Social Sciences


www.tbeli.ge BA Only partly (aims)



10. Akaki Tsereteli State University,


www.atsu.edu.ge BA Only partly (aims)







11. Iakob Gogebashvili Telavi State University,


www.tesau.edu.ge BA Only partly (aims)



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Faculty of Social Science

12. Georgian Technical University


http://www.gtu.ge BA Only partly (aims)







Documents

Analysis of Public Administration programs in Caucasus countries FINAL.pdf · 2015-04-14 · 3 Analysis of Public Administration programs in Caucasus countries Introduction This analysis