Radical Change in University Admission Procedures: New Draft Open for Public Discussion

The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports has submitted for public discussion a draft amendment to the government decision N 597-N from April 26, 2012, regarding the admission process to state and non-state higher education institutions of the Republic of Armenia (for bachelor’s degree programs).

The proposed changes primarily concern the process of admission exams and the declaration of specialties, deadlines, and methods of application. According to the current regulations, applicants submit their admission applications and documents to the university where they have listed their first-choice specialty. The draft establishes an online application process for declaring specialties and submitting documents through the website of the Assessment and Testing Center that organizes and conducts the admission examinations. This regulation aims to make the process more efficient and systematic.

Currently, applicants can declare up to 2 free and up to 8 paid specialties. Studies have shown that very few applicants are admitted with specialties declared in 5th and 6th places, and admission with specialties declared beyond the 7th place occurs in almost exceptional cases. Moreover, declaring 8 specialties reduces the chances of being admitted to a higher education institution with the desired specialty, as applicants often declare specialties that simply have the same competitive exams along with their preferred choice. As a result, many applicants miss out on competing for their preferred specialty and end up admitted to other specialties.

The draft stipulates that the university admission competition will be conducted in main and additional stages. The main stage competition will take place exclusively for one specialty (free and paid). The applicant fills out the admission application specifying one university and one specialty from the list of specialties and admission exams defined for bachelor’s and integrated educational programs at that institution. After the results of the main competition are confirmed, if there are vacant places in the universities, applicants who scored positive results in the admission exams but were not included in the competition can participate in the additional competition for vacant spots from July 19-26 by filling out an online application. The additional round of competition will be held with a declaration of one or more universities for up to six specialties, provided that the applicant has positive grades in the subjects of those specialties and there are available places (both free and paid) in those programs.

Thus, this application method allows applicants with clear professional orientations to gain admission to universities for their desired specialties.

The specialty declaration process is conducted in two phases: the first and second. The first phase covers the period from April 15 to May 10, during which applicants graduating from general education, preliminary, or secondary vocational educational institutions must declare online the exam subjects required for their chosen specialty. The second phase will take place from June 26 to July 1 for dual citizens and foreigners, students graduating from foreign educational institutions that year, Armenian citizens who did not submit admission applications in the first phase, and those who have been discharged from military service or will be discharged before July 31 of that year.

The draft clarifies the groups of applicants eligible for exemptions from general competition based on state budget resources, including the established requirements and conditions. An exemption has been established for applicants who have completed compulsory military service in combat units and been discharged, allowing them to participate in a separate competition for free education if they pass admission exams with positive scores within one year following their discharge. If there are no available free places for a specialty for those discharged from the army, the discharged applicant may participate in the free education competition on general terms and will be admitted under the paid education system outside of the competition.

It is noteworthy that since 2012, the admission process for both state and non-state higher educational institutions in Armenia has been regulated by the government decision N 597-N from April 26, 2012, with the exception of the 2020-2021 academic year due to the state of emergency declared for the prevention of the new coronavirus.