Education reform has reached Yerevan. Such has been the result of an eight-month project of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) to help Yerevan State University (YSU), revitalize its curriculum, as part of a major reform movement within the university.
After years under Soviet rule, the university has begun to rehaul its structure and programs, including updating its degree requirements. In September of 1994, the AGBU team of Carol Aslanian, Director of Education at the AGBU, and Yervant Terzian, Chairman of the Department of Astronomy and James A. Weeks Professor of Physical Sciences at Cornell University, traveled to Yerevan to meet with administrators, faculty and staff of YSU to discuss how AGBU could assist in the overall reform effort underway.
In reacting to that visit, Dr. Terzian noted, "It is an honor for anyone to contemplate aiding YSU, as it will produce the future leaders of Armenia, and will give a new bright life to the young, intelligent men and women who aspire to become valued citizens of the country."
By December of 1994, AGBU, in cooperation with Rector Radick Martirossian—who heads YSU—agreed to a project that addressed curricular reform. Over 100 academic areas were found in need of revision and redesign. Many courses that had for years been taught with overriding Soviet ideological leanings or restrictions were now clearly outdated. Professors needed time to prepare lectures, investigate texts and locate resource materials. Working jointly with YSU faculty and staff, the AGBU team noted these challenges, and others, and began to propose ways to assist.
During the eight-month project, recalls Aslanian, hundreds of new course syllabi were submitted by numerous departments, in everything from law to oriental studies. The YSU faculty modified course content and examined new ways to teach with new and updated materials. A course in International Economics, for instance, was changed to incorporate more recent ideas and texts, rather than Marxist-Leninist thought, as was done previously.
Rector Martirossian and his staff also delved into heretofore unavailable subjects, creating such courses as "Cybernetics Technology," "Theory of Consumer Behavior," and "World Economy," which tackled contemporary theories head-on. Additional textbooks and resource materials were also identified for the overhauled courses.
In addition to the AGBU-sponsored curriculum effort, YSU also changed the very structure of the university's degree requirements, reducing the five-year program to four years. More electives were offered. And overall, the school began to more closely resemble a liberal college of today.
In commenting about the AGBU/ YSU joint effort, Rector Martirossian reports that the reforms are already producing results with students quickly adapting and thriving on their newfound educational freedoms and opportunities.
"Given its leadership and talented staff," Aslanian concludes, "YSU is continuing on its path towards excellence by addressing critical reform needs."
AGBU's special funding through private contributors provided $200,000 for curriculum reform and for the renovation of a number of YSU buildings.
