Minister of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports of Armenia, Zhanna Andreasyan, visited the Technical University of Munich and the Bundeswehr University as part of a working visit to the Federal Republic of Germany.
According to the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports of Armenia, the delegation included Sisak Gabrielyan, Chairman of the Standing Parliamentary Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Diaspora, Youth and Sports, and Sarkis Ayotsyan, Chairman of the Higher Education and Science Committee.
During the visit, the Armenian delegation discussed cooperation within the framework of the "Academic City" program. At a meeting with Frederike Hettinger, Director of the Technical University of Munich, and Robert Schmidt, Head of the Energy Research Program, the possibility of jointly developing the concept of a technology cluster for the "Academic City" project based on the university's structure and management model was considered.
The delegation also visited the technology center of the Technical University of Munich, studied the university's experience in collaboration with businesses, and met with local Armenian students to learn about their experiences.
At a meeting with Karl-Heinz Renner, Vice President of the Bundeswehr University, the Armenian side discussed the possibility of jointly developing the concept of an officer cluster for the "Academic City" project. According to Zhanna Andreasyan, the experience of combining officer and civilian education in the context of the "Academic City" project can be instructive.
Earlier, the Government of Armenia approved the idea of creating an Academic Town, which is intended to be developed as a center of education and science to stimulate innovation and development. The town will unite 16 educational institutions - 8 state and the same number of private or international ones. It will be organized into 4 clusters: arts, education, technology, and defense. It will be located not far from Yerevan and will be connected to it by a railway. Inside the town, transportation is planned to be by bicycles and electric transport. It is planned that about 44,000 people will live and work here.
One of the key goals of creating the Academic Town is to ensure that at least four Armenian universities enter the global top 500.
In 2018, funding for scientific research amounted to 14.3 billion drams (about $35 million), and in 2024 - already 40.2 billion drams (about $100 million), which is almost three times more. Along with this, the salaries of scientific workers have also increased.
