Wednesday, February 6 2019 14:22

ArmInfo. Vardan Urutyan was  appointed as Rector of the Agrarian University of Armenia. The  decision was made at the February 6 meeting of the RA government.

Presenting the draft decision, RA Minister of Education and Science  Arayik Harutyunyan stressed that a meeting of the university council  was held on December 25 last year, at which Vardan Urutyan was  elected the head of the Agrarian University of Armenia by majority  vote.

The Minister stressed that the main task of the government in the  field of higher education is to depoliticize universities, increase  their independence and ensure academic freedom. To this end, new  university councils are being created, the process of which will be  completed in the very near future. The most important thing, as the  minister noted, is that people who have the trust and authority come  to the leadership of universities, which later will have an impact on  the quality of education.

In turn, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan noted that the issue of  depoliticizing universities is a course for the government of the  country. "Today, there are often accusations that nothing has changed  in the higher education system, but we must fix that in this matter  the executive will not interfere in the affairs of higher educational  institutions from now on. For this reason we leave the Council of  universities, and to consider this process as inertia on the part of  the state, "the head of government stated.  Pashinyan stressed that  earlier representatives of the government were included in the  Councils of universities in order to keep under control the processes  taking place in the higher educational institutions of the country.  The Prime Minister urged the relevant structures to carry out the  necessary work to legislatively regulate this issue. He also noted  the importance of a constructive dialogue with teachers and students  of universities on the formation of a new format of relations. "Our  goal is serious structural changes in the education system," stated  Nikol Pashinyan, also calling on the new head of the Agrarian  University to pay more attention to scientific and research work, to  form a link with production. In this way, the government can assist  in the form of financing a number of programs aimed at developing  agriculture.

Meanwhile, the new Rector of the Agrarian University, Vardan Urutyan,  pointed out the importance of optimizing the three research centers  of the university and establishing a link between the university and  other scientific institutions of the republic.

He, in particular, pointed out the need to create an  agrarian-technological center on the basis of the university, which  will contribute to the progress of agricultural production. "Now the  university is in the process of evaluating these and other  opportunities," Vardan Urutyan said.