Robert Kocharyan: I truly don`t understand how consolidating  universities in one location would result in an improvement in the  quality of education

ArmInfo.  Second President of the Republic of Armenia Robert Kocharyan has addressed a number of questions during a meeting with voters.  Specifically,  speaking about the public administration system, the former president  emphasized the importance of it functioning like clockwork. "I am a  strict disciplinarian. The state system must function like clockwork.  Otherwise, the state will not succeed. However, this doesn't mean  that you should spend your entire life issuing orders," Robert  Kocharyan noted.

According to him, the leader of Armenia wields power over the people,  but he is responsible to all Armenians. "The first person in the  Republic of Armenia must act according to this formula, because no  matter where an Armenian lives, a part of him still remains with  Armenia," the former president noted. He also touched on the issue of  education, including the project to build Academic City. "I truly  don't understand why concentrating universities in one place should  lead to an improvement in the quality of education. The quality of  education in Soviet Armenia was quite high, and university graduates  could always find work abroad. The project to create a student city  is more of a propaganda effort. Concentrating universities in one  place does not enhance the professionalism of the teaching staff.  Rather, the idea of creating Academic City is based on the  attractiveness of the buildings housing the universities, which would  be vacated if the project were implemented.

"I think this is a more serious motivation for officials," Kocharyan  added. Speaking about science, the former president noted that it  should develop alongside the economy and industry. The Armenian  government can specify two or three scientific fields and develop  them with state support. "I belong to the generation who remember how  many research institutes there were in Armenia. When I assumed the  presidency, only  some of them were operational at the time. If you  have an industry-for example, if you have a huge chemical  industry-then you must have a corresponding research institute  serving it.  As industry declined, research institutes were left  without a facility where their knowledge could be applied. What  happened to the research institutes? Their staffs were reduced, and  good scientists left for abroad. Some of the buildings housing the  research institutes were leased out in order to preserve at least the  rest. And this was widespread. The Polytechnic Institute once also  had a strong chemistry department because it had a chemical industry.  The institute had a strong electromechanics department because there  were numerous enterprises producing products in large volumes. Now, I  believe this department remains, but there's no industry where  students could find employment. Meanwhile, university faculty also  used to work in manufacturing.

When I became the president of Armenia, we made efforts to revive the  chemical industry, even by reopening Nairit and half of the Vanadzor  Chemical Plant. Then, after I left, there efforts were not sustained  and everything shut down again. We took this step because we had  potential and highly skilled personnel, including engineers. This is  a difficult task and must be focused on the medium term. Without  government intervention, there is little hope for its revival.  State  support, such as tax breaks, could incentivize  large foreign  companies to consider relocating their operations to Armenia,"  Kocharyan noted.