Sustainable Shift from Centralized to Participatory Higher Education in Post-Soviet Countries: A Systematic Literature Review

Hasmik Hovakimyan, Milena Klimek, Bernhard Freyer and Ruben Hayrapetyan
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Hasmik Hovakimyan: Institute for Sustainable Economic Development, Department of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, 1180 Vienna, Austria
Milena Klimek: Division of Organic Farming, Department of Sustainable Agricultural Systems, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, 1180 Vienna, Austria
Bernhard Freyer: Division of Organic Farming, Department of Sustainable Agricultural Systems, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, 1180 Vienna, Austria
Ruben Hayrapetyan: Department of Management, Armenian State University of Economics, Yerevan 0025, Armenia

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 10, 1-20

Abstract: Since the fall of the Soviet Union, higher education (HE) in post-Soviet reality continues to face complex challenges, including hierarchical structures, antiquated teaching methods, and lack of international standards. In the meantime, in the US and in Europe, HE has recently focused on participatory curriculum development (PCD) and programs that seek to directly connect student learning to “real-world” problems, accelerating positive change in curricula and through their contributions to regional communities. Accepted into the Bologna Process—the standardization of European HE—Armenian HE institutions struggle to satisfy requirements and related sustainable development goals with centralized standards, inhibiting them from being internationally competitive and regional sustainability change agents. In this article, we examine post-Soviet HE development since 1991 and challenges, with a particular focus on Armenia; what participatory curriculum building may offer; and how it contributes to HE and regional sustainability transitions. A systematic literature review was applied, using specific combinations of important terms restricting the search with criteria such as language, year of publication, and descriptive or critical in nature. The results illustrate the status quo of post-Soviet HE, synthesize current barriers of HE as potential change agents, and highlight PCD as a way to overcome these barriers.

Keywords: Armenia; higher education; participatory curriculum development; post-Soviet countries; stakeholder participation; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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