During today’s parliamentary session, deputies of the National Assembly of Armenia approved a number of amendments to existing laws in the second and final reading, yet failed to approve the package of bills on making amendments to the Law on Higher Education and Science and 22 related laws. The decision was made at the request of Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Vahram Dumanyan, who substantiated his request with the desire to hold additional discussions. Thus, the bills will be returned to the sector-specific committee for further consideration in the first reading.

Scholars, academicians, teachers and experts in Armenia have criticized the new reforms in the education system, particularly in the system of higher education. Based on the bills, Armenia intends to renounce tertiary higher education, giving preference to the “Western” system (one-degree). For instance, a particular candidate of science will be able to have the rank of doctor along with a doctor of sciences, and many scholars of the country consider this simply unacceptable. Moreover, the opponents of the bill are also concerned about the fate of the National Academy of Sciences since, according to the reforms, the government will fund institutes, not the National Academy of Sciences directly, and this will actually jeopardize the meaning of the existence of the National Academy of Sciences and the Scientific Council.

In addition, citizens are also concerned about the election of university rectors because the authorities are actually interfering in the process.