DOES IT EXIST?
Nik Wagner

KarabakhOpen
18-01-2008 13:25:59

"The NKR government is lately realizing a program of reforms directed
at the improvement and development of educational and teaching
process. The reforms are also directed at the creation of optimal
conditions for the training of young specialists. They are called to
contribute to the adoption of democratic principles in the sphere of
education with a wide use of generally accepted leading methods."

( tm)

A recent Karabakh Open article (24 December 2007) quoted the Artsakh
State University Rector Hamlet Grigorian: "The rector enumerated the
achievements of the past year – scientific conference, cooperation
with private universities, purchase of inventory, etc." Additionally,
"The rector mentioned that nobody uses the internet in the university
– he understood this when he disconnected it and did not get any
complaints. The rector also complained that the library is not
useful either."

( ndex.php?lang=en&id=3&nid=7105)

This article, "There is money, there are no specialists" also
criticized the staff: "Besides hailing achievements, the rector also
complained of the staff. Although it is not clear who is to blame
for the bad work of the staff and to whom the rector complains."

More-in-likely there are many who wonder about the Artsakh State
University rector with respect to the role of a university in the
21st Century.

A search of the Web via Google on 5 January 2008 yielded the following
information:

1. According to the "Education and Science" menu site of the NKR
Government office, "There is one state high educational institution
functioning in NKR – Artsakh State University, and 11 private colleges,
including the 0University "Mesrop Mashtots" that prepares specialists
of different profiles for the Republic." This government document also
spoke of "The poor material and technical equipment of the educational
institutions certainly has a negative impact on the organization of
educational and teaching process. The lack of visual aids, didactic
materials, laboratory appliances, modern educational-technical means,
computer and other equipment is bitterly felt."

( … also see
=en&id=2&nid=7129 for
an additional perspective.)

2. The American University of Armenia website document:
files/8.html speaks of the
number of applicants during the years of 2001 to 2005. Artsakh State
University is 19th out of 32 with 12 applicants. This is impressive,
yet could it have been higher? Recent data from the American University
of Armenia indicated that in 2005-2006 two students from Artsakh State
University applied to AUA and only one was admitted. There were no
applicants in 2007 for 2007-2008.

3. Prime Minister Ara Harutiunyan thinks that there is a lack of
specialists in all the spheres as reported in the 5 January 2008
issue of Karabagh Open.. "We need to hire more people, especially
specialists…."

4. There are numerous websites listing Artsakh State
University: – is the "Official Website of
Artsakh State University in Karagakh, Armenia" … according to

– Karabagh Telecom () links the Official
website of Artsakh State University as

– Another website, AmFlorist.com, also has a link to the Artsakh State
University website as It mentions that it was
added on 26 July 2006 to its list of Armenian Universities.

– Braintrack University Index’s website states that it is "The world’s
most complete Education-Index." Its second listing under Armenia is
Artsakh State University.

?level=3&pprevid=196) – The
Top Hayastan website identifies Artsakh State University as being in
Stephanakert and provides its website as

(http://www.karabakh-open. com/src/index.php?lang=en&id=2&nid=7129)

Each of these websites performs a valuable function of directing
interested individuals … students, other universities, parents,
government officials, and others to universities including Artsakh
State University.

Sadly, though, each of these sites including the official one for the
University displays "Great Success! … If you are seeing this page
instead of the site you expected, please contact the administrator
of the site involved. (Try sending an email to )" is the suggestion
provided.

()

The 24 December 2007 Karabakh Open article started with "There
is money, there are no specialists. In a recent open session of
the Board, the rector of Artsakh State University Hamlet Grigoryan
announced proudly that the ‘university has sufficient funds for the
educational process.’" Yet, what is the purpose for which Artsakh
State University was created?

What is the purpose of any university?

Meriam-Webster.com, an on-line English language dictionary provides
this reflection on the nature of a university: "an institution of
higher learning providing facilities for teaching and research and
authorized to grant academic degrees; specifically: one made up of an
undergraduate division which confers bachelor’s degrees and a graduate
division which comprises a graduate school and professional schools
each of which may confer master’s degrees and doctorates."

( ictionary/university) The Yerevan
State University Charter states that "he activities of YSU, as a
state self-governed higher educational institution, are directed to
the organization of basic scientific research and the organization
of educational process in the area of Armenological, Biological,
Social-economic, Humanities and Technical Sciences and in the sphere
of different branches of culture…."

( hp?page=4&lang=2)

An excerpt from the "Mission Statement" of the American University of
Armenia: "As an institution of higher learning, the American University
of Armenia provides teaching, research, and service programs that
prepare students to address the needs of Armenia and the surrounding
region for sustainable development, in a setting that values and
develops academic excellence, free inquiry, scholarship, leadership,
and service to society." ()

There was hope for a successful search of the Artsakh State University
website either directly and indirectly for similar statements regarding
its educational purpose. Probably, the following quotation attributed
to Rector Grigoryan may be the closest to the "hope": "… ducation
in any field must be practical."

( ADC/news.asp?id=153)

A university serves to train students in many disciplines. As a
result, the training does need to be practical to be effective. To
spoon-feed information into the brains of students without asking them
to interrelate that information with previous classroom and personal
experience knowledge may defeat the true purpose of education, the
initial NKR cite, and the comment of Prime Minister Harutiunyan. Thus,
in order to provide students with the means to learn practical things
within a setting placing emphasis on thinking skills, graduate, and
take a place in society, the curriculum necessitates that students
do research and interact with other students and their professors in
order to negotiate meaning; thus becoming the specialists of which
Prime Minister Harutiunyan and Minister of Education Vladik Khachatryan
spoke of in the Karabakh Open article dated 26 December 2007.

To deny students and their professors’ internet access seems juvenile
and contradictory to the role a university or any educational
institution needs to play within the community it resides. To
imply that the ASU Library may close is perhaps a form of book
burning. Universities like Yerevan State, the American University
of Armenia, Oxford, Harvard, the Sorbonne, the University of Tokyo,
the University of California, and many others provide libraries to
enrich the means to become specialists.