Pashinyan discussed Academic campus concept in Ashtarak

YEREVAN, Sept. 12. /ARKA/. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited today the Institute of Physical Research, an affiliation of the National Academy of Sciences in the town of Ashtarak to discuss the concept of the Academic campus.

According to the governmental press service, the Academic campus is to be located on the territory of the Institute of Physical Research and the Institute of Radiophysics and Electronics and adjacent territories.

The campus, designed for 50,000 people is to host up to 8 state-run universities with all their infrastructure. In addition to universities, the campus will also have residential areas, research centers, sports infrastructure, a park, and an amphitheater.

Pashinyan stressed the importance of developing an action plan with a clear timetable. He stressed the importance of providing the town with all necessary infrastructure, including the transport network.

According to Pashinyan, the campus will also contribute to the development of the Aragatsotn province and neighboring regions.

On September 1, Pashinyan told a Cabinet meeting that "Our higher educational institutions often do not correspond to international standards both at the level of physical infrastructure and educational process. People with higher education degrees are often not competitive in the labor market."

"There will be no more than eight state-run universities with full state funding, which will be brought in line with state standards, starting from physical, educational, research, training, housing infrastructures to international educational programs and qualified and properly paid professors and lecturers," Pashinyan said.

The town of Ashtarak is the administrative center of Aragatsotn province, 20 km off the capital Yerevan.

Pashinyan's plans caused a wave of discontent in the media and on social networks, with some users publishing photos of the current university buildings transformed by Photoshop into various supermarkets, hotels and restaurants.--0--