Azernews.Az

YEREVAN – Armenian education minister Armen Ashotyan has invited his Azerbaijani counterpart Misir Mardanov to attend international events due in Yerevan in July and September, the Armenian education ministry said.

The ministry said that from July, Armenia will co-chair the Bologna process with Poland. As part of the South Caucasus republic’s co-chairmanship, the Armenian capital will host international summer school classes on July 3-10, to be followed by an international conference on financing higher education on September 8-9. The events are due to be joined by education officials from 45 European countries.

Besides the Azerbaijani education minister, head of Turkey’s Council of Higher Education Yusuf Ziya Ozcan is among the invitees, according to the Armenian ministry.

Bayram Huseynzada, the Azerbaijani education ministry’s spokesman, said the ministry has not yet received the Armenian official’s formal invitation.

"Even if the invitation comes, this will no longer be an education issue," he said. "This is the country’s foreign policy. We will therefore approach the foreign ministry over this. Based on their feedback, we will respond to the Armenian education ministry."

The purpose of the Bologna Process (or Bologna Accords) is the creation of the European Higher Education Area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more compatible throughout Europe. It is named after the place it was proposed, the University of Bologna, with the signing in 1999 of the Bologna declaration by education ministers from 29 European countries. It was later opened up to other countries signatory to the European Cultural Convention of the Council of Europe.