Armenian government plans to open 5-8 tuition-free universities by 2030

YEREVAN, JULY 28, ARMENPRESS. The 2030 Education Development Program bill envisages internationally-acceptable unified, licensing and accreditation standards in accordance to infrastructure, total area, management and other criteria, the Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Artur Martirosyan said at the Cabinet meeting.

“It is planned to create an equal competitive arena for the universities, namely to develop a unified organizational-legal form for universities, and create the same management system. Special attention will be paid to curriculum, based on the demands of the job market,” he added.

Institutional mechanisms of mid-term and long-term planning for state-order (government-funded education) will be introduced.

It is expected that every graduate will have internationally-recognized professional qualification in line with the job market demands.

“In the process of fundamental reforms the consolidation of state universities with scientific-research institutes must be pointed out, which is done for higher research quality and competitiveness. Five to eight universities with 100 percent state funding [tuition-free] will be created, at the same time not ruling out the possibility of paid education. Through targeted government support, a concrete number of universities in Armenia will be given the chance to significantly improve our positions in conditions of international competition. As a result, by 2030, four Armenian universities will be included in the list of top 500 universities worldwide,” Martirosyan said.