Yerevan State University Board of Trustees Meeting Canceled

Today once again, the meeting of the Board of Trustees of Yerevan State University (YSU) did not take place due to a lack of quorum. This information is reported on the official website of YSU.

The interim rector of YSU, Gegham Gevorgyan, had resigned, and the meeting was supposed to discuss this issue. Prior to that, 16 members of the YSU Board of Trustees had resigned, but according to Gevorgyan, their powers have not yet been terminated.

Members of the Board of Trustees issued a statement regarding the cancellation of today’s meeting. “Considering that the resignation requests from the members of the council were submitted under circumstances that directly indicate their organized and directed nature, we believe that the disruption of the Board of Trustees' activities is the result of the actions of the founder and the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports (MoESCS). It seems that the process of forming a new composition of the Board of Trustees is driven by the desire to elect a preferred candidate for the position of chairman of the council and to establish complete control,” the statement reads.

Moreover, it is further evidenced by the fact that after the president challenged the provisions of the Law on Higher Education and Science in the Constitutional Court, the government, at the proposal of MoESCS, is making amendments to the YSU charter with the intention of forming a Board of Trustees under its control.

The YSU Board of Trustees calls on the government to reconsider its decision, to appoint new members instead of those who have resigned, and not to obstruct the normal functioning of the council. At the same time, they urge YSU lecturers, students, and other concerned individuals regarding the issues of the parent university to unite their efforts to overcome the created situation.

It should be noted that according to the government’s adopted decision, a draft aimed at changing the procedure for forming management councils of state universities has been approved. Thus, the number of members of the management councils has been reduced from 32 to 20, of which 55% will be appointed by the government, 10% by MoESCS, the next 10% by the university's academic staff, and the remaining 25% by the student body.