A cork popped, glasses banged together, huge slices of chocolate cake passed from hand to hand, while a dozen young women chatted around Lucia Hambardzumyan, 24. The student has just completed her thesis defense, she holds a master’s degree in marketing. On the wall facing the establishment that graduates, the face of Charles Aznavour smiles gently at her. A sentence taken from one of his songs accompanies the portrait of the singer: “You have to drink your youth to intoxication. » A call, a promise launched for twenty-two years by an emanation of the French university whose walls are planted in the heart of Causasus, in Yerevan: the French university in Armenia (UFAR).
Armenia, in the 1990s, barely digested the fragmentation of the former Soviet Union, of which it had been a republic since 1920. The country was in an almost permanent state of war with Azerbaijan for the possession of the territory of the Nagorno-Karabakh. And Yerevan needs executives to animate and make the economic and political fabric of the new state prosper. Interested allies will come to the aid of the young independent republic to help it train its elites. The American University of Armenia was created in 1991. Then, in 1997, it was the turn of the Russian-Armenian University to open its doors in response to the American presence. These two heavyweights offer young Armenians their educational know-how, one in English, the other in Russian. Why wouldn’t the French invite themselves to this university revival?
The Armenian executive welcomes this new partner on the training ground. France is an old friend, it has a powerful diaspora, with around 600,000 people of Armenian origin. Both countries are aware of their mutual interests. “The creation of UFAR is based on an intergovernmental agreement between the two countries”underlines Anne Louyot, Ambassador of France in Armenia. “It is an issue of influence to be present and to participate in the training of future Armenian decision-makers”, recognizes Matthieu Peyraud, director of culture, education and research at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The new university, inaugurated on July 18, 2000, is a foundation under Armenian law. The state provides a five-story building wedged between an urban highway and a vocational high school in Yerevan. For its part, France offers the services of a rector, or rather a conductor responsible for importing an educational model, adapting it to the needs of the country, then ensuring its financial balance. But what should be taught?