Supreme Court Declares 'Higher Education and Science' Law Unconstitutional, Threatening University Autonomy

The Constitutional Court of Armenia has declared the 'Higher Education and Science' law ratified by the majority of the 7th convocation of the National Assembly unconstitutional. This was announced on her Facebook page by LHK faction MP Anna Kostanyan.

"The Court recognized the law as unconstitutional. Specifically, the following provisions were found unconstitutional: 3. The governance council of a public university is formed as follows: 1) four members are nominated by the university's academic council, the requirements for their nomination and the procedure for termination of their powers are defined by the university's charter, 2) five members are appointed by the head of the relevant authorized body. 4. If the university fails to nominate four members of the governance council within the stipulated timeframe in part 6 of this article or nominates less than four, the head of the relevant authorized body shall complete the vacancies for the non-nominated members of the governance council," the Court’s decision states.

According to Kostanyan, if the adopted law had been signed by the president, it would have compromised the principle of university autonomy. The number of members in the boards of trustees of universities would have been reduced to nine, of which five would be appointed by the government, therefore depriving the universities of the exclusive ability to make independent decisions.

"For the sake of justice, we should say that the Court preserved the wisdom of the higher court and saved the autonomy of the higher education system from being compromised," Kostanyan wrote.

It is worth noting that the National Assembly had discussed a bill proposing amendments and changes to the 'Higher Education and Science' law, according to which a university rector should be elected in the management council and appointed by the head of the authorized body. The proposal also aimed to remove the limitation on the position of the chairman of the board of trustees from being held for more than two consecutive terms. The legislative package also stipulated that the positions of university rectors, department heads, and deans would transition from administrative to academic.