Armenian universities 'search for' students

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

A shocking small number of entrants have enrolled at universities in Armenia this year.

The official data shows that this year, the universities of Armenia received 8,266 entrants, while this figure was 17,649 last year. Thus, the number of entrants to the country’s universities reduced by more than twice compared to last year. Armenian media report that now 11,375 places remain vacant in the state universities. 

One of the main reasons of such a steep decline in the number of entrants is the socio-economic situation in Armenia. The country’s population suffers from the incompetence of the Armenian authorities, therefore many children are forced to work to help their family, rather than study in school or university.

Another problem is the declining population. Armenia’s official statistics show that over 50,000 children were born in 1999-2000. Today they should have been the graduates of Armenian schools, but their number reduced to only 19,618. This means that tens of thousands of these children left Armenia, moving to live in another country.

Therefore, dozens of Armenian universities are in search for students to vacant places. For example, the Yerevan State University has 903 vacant places for 38 specialties out of 58. It is noteworthy that majority of these places require the tuition fee. However, many Armenians don’t have enough money to send their sons and daughters to study at university.

Moreover, the Armenian government adopted a decision to reduce the funds allocated for the education. Thus, the funding will be reduced from 3.2 percent of the country’s GDP in 2016 to 1.85 percent in 2020.

Armenian expert in the field of education, Serob Khachatryan notes that such saving of the Armenian government shows its attitude towards this sphere.

“We must consider the education not as costs but as investments. If you don't allocate money to the education, you in fact don’t make investments – therefore, you cannot expect anything in a few years,” said Khachatryan.

The expert is sure that this decision of the Armenian government is "a disaster." He noted that as a result, Armenian schools and universities will get less money, and there will be no skilled professionals and educated generation in Armenia in the near future.

Thus, the number of Armenian students continues to decrease, children leave abroad forever, universities remain empty, and the Armenian government reduces the funding of education. These give ground to say that the collapse of Armenia as a state is not far off.