No Student Displaced from Artsakh Has Paid Tuition Fees: Statement by Yerevan State University Rector

The Rector of Yerevan State University, Hovhannes Hovhannisyan, responded on his Facebook page to the statement made by Bishop Bagrat.

“In response to the statement made yesterday in Republic Square suggesting that a student displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh was not allowed to benefit from the rotation system, I must clarify that last year, YSU registered over 800 students forcibly displaced from Artsakh to facilitate their further education and ensure the continuity and permanence of their learning.

As it is known, in order to compensate for the tuition fees of students forcibly displaced from Artsakh, the government established scholarships that provided the average tuition fees for various specialties at different universities. Although there were differences in various specialties at YSU, to alleviate any financial burden on our students and fully reimburse their tuition fees, YSU appealed for fundraising from friends and partner organizations. As a result, 99,156,900 AMD was raised. Participants in the fundraising process included the Western Armenian Diocese in the USA (38,675,000 AMD), the Union of Armenian Banks (35,000,000 AMD), the Armenian branch of the American Evangelical Society (21,281,900 AMD), and the 'Arman Terteryan' charitable foundation (4,200,000 AMD), to whom we once again express our gratitude and appreciation.

None of the YSU students displaced from Artsakh have paid tuition fees; moreover, as a result of the rotation system, 20 students are now studying under a free education program. Incidentally, by a government decision, the program for compensating tuition fees for those displaced from Artsakh studying in Armenian universities will continue this year as well, without limits, meaning 100 percent compensation.”