Some Universities Have No Applicants, Over 15,000 Vacant Places Remain

This year, over 15,000 places have remained vacant in universities of Armenia, primarily in private institutions. Furthermore, some universities have reported having no applicants at all. This was announced by Karo Nasibyan, the Deputy Director of the National Center for Educational Assessment during a press conference.

“In previous years, it was possible to enter universities with just one exam, but this year’s regulations state that each applicant must take at least two exams. Additionally, while in previous years, an applicant who failed one subject had the opportunity to participate in the competition for vacant places, this year, they do not have that right. This means they must have positive assessments in two subjects to be able to participate in the competition for vacant places,” Nasibyan said, adding that this is one of the reasons for so many vacant spots.

Nasibyan also noted that this year, there have been 13,887 applicants compared to 13,128 last year. The number of participants in the unified exams stood at 11,587, with 7,246 successfully entering universities in the first round, while 3,076 (about 30 percent) failed.

He announced that, according to the results of the main competition, only 38 students were admitted to the Agricultural University of Armenia, with a similar situation in pedagogical and regional universities. He pointed out that only one person was admitted to the pedagogical university in the specialty of “Physics,” and there are two vacant places in the highly demanded Faculty of International Relations at Yerevan State University.

According to him, there is interest in medical specialties; however, applicants do not prefer to become pharmacists, wanting only to focus on healing instead.

Nasibyan further reported that the most applicants sat for the “English” exam, with 5,641 registered. Over 5,000 applicants took the exams in “Mathematics” and “Armenian Language,” while the most failures were recorded in “Mathematics,” with over 20 percent of candidates not passing.

The deadline for applications for the vacant places in universities is until July 26.