Armenian minister rejects claims universities remain politicized despite officials on boards

By Siranush Adamyan

Armenia’s education minister has rejected claims that state universities remain politicized, saying the presence of government officials and ruling-party members on their governing boards does not itself prove political interference.

Education, Science, Culture and Sports Minister Zhanna Andreasyan said the distinction was whether universities were being instructed to serve political goals rather than focus on teaching and research.

“Can you point to one example of this government setting a political task for any of our universities?” she asked in an interview published by Infocom. “You cannot.”

Her comments address a practice that drew criticism before Armenia’s 2018 revolution: senior officials and members of the governing party holding positions in university management. Republican Party figures have since been replaced in prominent university roles by representatives of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party and other officials serving under the current government.

At Yerevan State University, Defense Minister Suren Papikyan, a founding member of Civil Contract, chairs the board of trustees. The position was previously held by Republican Party leader and former President Serzh Sargsyan, who headed the university’s governing council from 2006 to 2018.

YSU Rector Hovhannes Hovhannisyan is a former lawmaker from Pashinyan’s governing bloc. During the interview, journalists also pointed to the presence of Andreasyan, her deputy and the prosecutor general on the university’s board, questioning whether officials’ participation in selecting a rector created a risk of political influence.

At the Armenian State University of Economics, President Vahagn Khachaturyan sits on the governing council alongside Artur Hovsepyan, a deputy chief of the prime minister’s staff, and other officials. Their membership is listed in a March 2026 government decision.

Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan, another founding member of Civil Contract, also chairs the board of trustees of the National Polytechnic University of Armenia.

Not all officials serving on university boards belong to Civil Contract. Khachaturyan is formally independent, while Andreasyan stressed in the interview that she, her deputy and the prosecutor general were not party members.

Party membership and political influence

Andreasyan argued that party affiliation should not automatically be equated with interference in education.

“The fact that people involved in universities may have a party affiliation is not in itself a sign that they will use that influence in the educational process,” she said.

She acknowledged that risks existed but pointed to requirements for political restraint and safeguards, including a new ethics body envisaged under higher education reforms.

“Every university has one task: to do its job, which is education and research,” she said.

The minister also disputed the suggestion that implementation of restrictions on political officials serving on university boards had been postponed. She said the provisions applied to universities formed through the government’s planned mergers of higher education institutions and research institutes.

Andreasyan described 2027 as a potentially decisive year for those mergers, which form part of the government’s Academic City project.

The interview also touched on allegations that university lecturers had been dismissed for their political views.

Andreasyan said lecturers should not use classes to campaign for or against political forces or impose their opinions on students. She argued that disciplinary action over such conduct should not automatically be treated as a violation of academic freedom.

Asked about a lower court ruling in favor of dismissed YSU lecturer and opposition activist Menua Soghomonyan, she said she would await the completion of the judicial process before drawing conclusions.

Anyone who believed they had been unlawfully dismissed could challenge the decision in court, she said.