YEREVAN STATE UNIVERSITY: WITNESSING AND SHAPING THE RESTORATION OF ARMENIAN STATEHOOD

Noyan Tapan
30.10.2009

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the Yerevan State University
and the fact that the idea of creating the university was born after
the restoration of Armenian statehood says it all.

The creation of the Armenian alphabet led to the rapid development of
the educational system and the creation of the schools for scribes,
which reached high levels of development especially in the 10-13th
centuries.

In medieval times, the large centers for Armenian scribes were
the Universities of Sanahin, Gladzor and Tatev. After the loss of
statehood, Armenians began to create educational centers beyond the
borders of the Homeland. The Mekhitarist Congregation of Venice
was created in 1717, the Aghababyan School of Astrakhan in 1810,
the Lazaryan Seminary of Moscow in 1815 and the Nersisyan School of
Tbilisi in 1824. It was thanks to these schools that Armenians living
in Diaspora Armenian communities were able to preserve their national
identity in the absence of statehood.

After the restoration of Armenian statehood in 1918, Armenians once
again felt the need to create an educational institution of higher
learning. On May 16, 1919, the Council of Ministers of the Republic
of Armenia took the decision to establish a university in Yerevan
and the opening ceremony was held in the building of the school of
commerce in Alexandrapol (modern-day Gyumri) on January 31, 1920.

After ninety years, the words recited by the first university rector
Yuri Ghambaryan (July 1919-December 1920) during the opening ceremony
are still current today. Graduate of the Law Faculty of the University
of Moscow, Professor Yuri Ghambaryan states: "The recognition of
our independence gives us individual freedom and the benefits of a
democracy that are as necessary for enlightenment as true enlightenment
is for a fair democracy. Long live our non-absolute, non-religious,
non-aristocratic, but free, mundane and democratic University that
is called for developing science and virtue without which democracy
would either be a hoax or a meaningless word."

Catholicos of All Armenians Gevorg Chorekchyan V gave his blessings
on the occasion of the opening of the university.

In the first academic year, there were 262 students and 32 professors
at the Faculty of History and Linguistics, which was the only
faculty of the university. Through efforts of the first rector,
Yuri Ghambaryan, in the first year of establishment the university
invited notable educators and scientists from abroad to lecture at the
university, including Manuk Abeghyan (Universities of Yena, Laiptzig,
Berlin and Paris), Hrachya Atcharyan (University of Sorbonne),
Alexander Tamanyan (Art Academy of Peterbourg), Leon (A. Babakhanyan,
Shushi) and others.

After the establishment of Soviet order in Armenia, on December 17,
1920, Armenia’s University was renamed the People’s University of
Yerevan by the order "On Restructuring of Yerevan’s University" by the
People’s Commissar for Enlightenment of the Armenian Soviet Socialist
Republic, Ashot Hovhannisyan. By the decision of October 20, 1923,
the People’s University was renamed the State University. In 1991,
the university that started with one faculty already had 17 faculties
with 32 professions. Today there are 20 faculties with 13,000 students.

The university has had 21 rectors in the 90 years of its existence.

Correspondent of the RA National Academy of Sciences, PhD in History,
Professor Aram Simonyan became the 22nd rector of the university on
May 15, 2006.

World-famous scientists started their scientific career from the
Yerevan State University. The first color television experiment was
conducted by Hovhannes Adamyan in one of the laboratories of the
university in 1925. Among other renowned scientists who implemented
their scientific research at the university were Victor Hambartsumyan,
Abraham and Artem Alikhanyan, Sergey Mergelyan and others. Writers
Hovhannes Shiraz, Silva Kaputikyan, Paruyr Sevak, Vahagn Davtyan,
Gurgen Mahari, Nairi Zaryan and many others have also graduated from
Yerevan State University.

Yerevan State University was traditionally one of the first that
responded to the changes taking place in society such as the national
renaissance in the 1960s following the Stalin dictatorship and in the
1980s. It is known that the first renaissance laid the foundation for
the movement for recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the claims,
and the second was the Artsakh movement. It is not by chance that
university professors Vazgen Manukyan, Babken Ararktsyan and David
Vardanyan were among members of the "Karabakh" committee, while nearly
30 university student soldiers fought and died on the battlefield
without being able to enjoy the fruits of victory.

The president of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan is also
a graduate of the university and chairman of the Board of Yerevan
State University.

"The university has over 100 graduates and I am certain that this
is the most significant achievement. The graduates have had an
enormous contribution to different spheres of public life, including
politics, economy, science, education and culture," Sargsyan said
in his congratulatory address to the students of YSU. He emphasized
that the university’s important mission is to prepare intelligent
experts with vast thinking abilities in order to serve the state,
the nation and the field of science. "The students endowed with those
virtues are the ones who will continue to shape Armenia and the YSU
and the ones who have the honor of being called "students of YSU","
as stated in Sargsyan’s address.