Universities remain under political control – News probe

An investigation by news website Infocom shows that despite promises to eliminate political influence from universities, Armenia’s government has maintained significant control over the country’s higher education institutions, writes Lia Avagyan for Civilnet.

The investigation found that eight out of 12 chairs of state university boards of trustees in Yerevan are political appointees, with three being ruling party members. This starkly contrasts with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s 2018 pledge that “no party member should have the right to be a university rector” and that universities should be “100% self-governing”.

A draft Higher Education and Science law was introduced in September 2023, proposing to prohibit party members from holding senior administrative positions in universities. However, implementing these restrictions depends on the law’s final version and the planned consolidation of universities.
Full report on the Civilnet site