It is really important

The state scholarship in support to the Armenian students studying in the leading institutes of higher education of the world was also delayed this academic year, though the discussions have practically started since 2007. More than 300 scientists, public, political and cultural figures jointed the initiative with their signatures, stressing the public importance of the problem, the program was approved by the RA Ministry of Education and Science, it was discussed in the government, even the sum was foreseen from the state budget in order to pay the state scholarship. But the discussions were frozen in the electoral and post-electoral periods.

Today the program’s implementation is also postponed by other reasons. Artur Ishkhanyan, a a corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences, doctor of physical-mathematical sciences, who started the initiative, thinks that there is a problem of the program “format”. According to him, the programs on state scholarship in the world are mainly implemented on the presidential level, as for Armenia, the program passed the governmental discussions, so the President-Prime Minister meeting is necessary.

According to the project, annual scholarship contest will be organized by the state commission consisting of specialists presenting different spheres and operating actively in science for state support to the Armenian students studying in the foreign prestigious institutes of higher education. The scholarship fund is formed owing to annual allocations from the state budget, as well as due to the donation of non-state organizations and separate individuals. The rating lists of the institutes of higher education are formed on the basis of the annual mobile lists of the Times Higher Education, US News & World Report and the RF Education Federal Agency compiled by the method used in the international practice.