Surens Papikyan's Latest Show: 'Hraparak'

The newspaper 'Hraparak' reports that the Minister of Defense and Chairman of the Yerevan State University Board of Trustees, Suren Papikyan, recently announced on his Facebook page that unprecedented changes have been made at the university. He stated, 'Today, the annual summary meeting of the Board of Trustees took place at YSU, during which we discussed several issues and made important decisions. Among other decisions, the Board has approved a new version of the YSU charter. Starting from January 1 of the upcoming year, the salaries of all YSU staff will increase by ten percent, including the teaching staff. Notably, this September, professors' salaries were already increased by ten percent.'

He added that for the first time in the established budget, a fifty percent salary supplement has been set for YSU main staff in anticipation of the summer vacation. The amount allocated for YSU internal grant programs has also been increased, resulting in an additional ten internal grants being established next year.

However, a source from YSU stated that no new changes have actually been made. Previously, both Aram Simonyan and Gegham Gevorgyan have always provided this 50 percent supplement to YSU main staff; they just did it under the rector's command without allocating a separate line in the budget for it. The fact is that the rector has the right under the 'Foundations Law' and the YSU charter to sign an order for expenses up to 50 million drams without a decision from the Board of Trustees regarding unbudgeted cases.

In the case of main staff, several groups were granted this 50 percent supplement through separate orders, and the new leadership of YSU, led by Suren Papikyan, has recorded this in the budget and considers it an achievement.

However, Papikyan did not mention that under the previous rector Aram Simonyan, the tuition fees for students had only increased by half, while after Simonyan, they reached unprecedented heights; for instance, the fee of 430 thousand drams has become 500 thousand drams, and prior to the 2022-2023 academic year, it increased by 50 to 100 thousand drams in various faculties. Moreover, from June 30, the cost of doctoral education fees almost doubled.

For more details, refer to today's issue of the newspaper.