Having So Many Universities is Quite a 'Luxury' for Our Small Republic, Says Minister

Having so many universities is quite a 'luxury' for our small republic. This was stated today by the Minister of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports Vahram Dumanyan while presenting a package of draft laws that include amendments and changes to the 'Higher Education and Science' law and 22 other laws.

It is worth noting that LHK member Ani Samsonyan raised the question as to why the law stipulates that the management councils of universities must consist of 9 members, 5 of whom will be representatives from the government and authorized body, while 4 will be lecturers and students. The MP asked whether the right to autonomy of universities is not being jeopardized.

“I believe that the distribution of members in the university management council should not have been 5:4, but rather 9:0, meaning that there would only be representatives from the government and the authorized body there. The issue is that if the founder of the university is the state, then the state should bear 100 percent responsibility for the university,” said the minister, adding that this decision would not be understandable to the public and the professional community.

Dumanyan noted that in reality, it is quite difficult to select the composition of the university management council since the number of universities is unnaturally large while the people are few.

Regarding the question of how many students and lecturers should be included in the university management council, the minister responded that the university itself should determine this issue.