Centralized Academic City receives international backing

A plan to merge most of the 60-plus higher education institutions in Armenia, the landlocked former Soviet republic in the South Caucasus, and create an ‘Academic City’ on the outskirts of the capital Yerevan is getting backing from international universities.
The ambitious project eventually aims to develop “at least four universities” able to compete for top 500 places in the world rankings and would transform the country’s higher education and research system, which is still emerging from a Soviet legacy in which most research was conducted through the Academy of Sciences and universities were largely teaching-focused.
The scheme has been in the planning stage since 2023, and construction work is due to start later this year, with the first students scheduled to move in during 2030.
It would involve relocating most of Armenia’s higher education provision to a purpose-built new campus, Academic City, on the outskirts of the capital, connected to Yerevan’s city centre 15 minutes away by a proposed new train line.
Most students would live in on-site dormitories, reducing the overcrowding and lack of accommodation that students currently face in Yerevan.
Living spaces for professors, especially for those who are visiting short term, are envisaged together with a cinema, theatre and other leisure facilities, with new roads being built and the relocation of high-voltage power lines, gas pipelines and everything else that goes with a major infrastructure project.
International partnerships
Private sector investors are being invited to help finance the project, but the Armenian government expects to pick up the bulk of the cost, with estimates of the design and construction phases and outside consultancy services costs being in the region of $3 billion, according to Mariana Sargsyan, head for the International Cooperation Unit at the Higher Education and Science Committee (HESC).

Sargsyan, who is an assistant professor at Yerevan State University, coordinates HESC policies to enhance international cooperation and sustainable partnerships, including those supporting Armenia’s integration into the European Higher Education Area and the European Research Area as well as links with international higher education and research bodies, such as the British Council and the Bologna Follow-up Group.
She told University World News: “Involving international partner universities will be indispensable to the successful realisation of the Academic City project, both in terms of substantive development of the initiative and expertise and guidance in terms of infrastructure and content.”
Among the international higher education institutions already offering to help “improve the conception and delivery of the ‘Academic City’ project” are the University of the Arts London (UAL), the Institute of Education at University College London (UCL) in the United Kingdom, and Germany’s Technical University of Munich (TUM).
UAL was chosen because it was created through a merger of six smaller colleges, and it has agreed to share its successful experience and advice on best practice in forming and operating the arts cluster envisaged for Armenia’s Academic City, said Sargsyan.
The Institute of Education merged into UCL and will offer “insights and understanding” about the sensitivities and complications of bringing different higher education institutions together. “It will also assist in modernising educational programmes and training administrative staff,” said Sargsyan.
Technical University of Munich (TUM) International GmbH’s managing director Friederike Hettinger last year signed a memorandum of understanding with Dr Sargis Hayotsyan, chairman of the Higher Education and Science Committee of Armenia’s Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, in which both sides agreed to work together to develop the technological cluster within the framework of the Academic City project.
TUM is one of Europe’s top-ranked universities for interdisciplinary education and research and the promotion of promising young scientists and has strong links with companies and scientific institutions around the world.
It will “support the integration of technology transfer and the start-up ecosystem within the Academic City framework,” Sargsyan told University World News.
Top 500 ranking goals
Negotiations are also underway with Complutense University of Madrid in Spain and Seoul National University in South Korea, “which may later not only result in cooperation agreements on one of the Academic City clusters, but also provide Armenia with the best practices and expertise necessary for meeting the national policy goal of having at least four universities ranked in the top 500 of global university rankings by 2030”, said Sargsyan.
Armenia’s State Development Plan for Education envisages up to eight state public higher education institutions being created through mergers with scientific research institutions by 2030.
There will also be room for up to eight private or international higher education institutions as part of the design for the Academic City.
Among Armenia’s 60-odd higher education institutions are 23 public-funded universities, which it sees as too many for a small country of three million people.
Two years ago, its government agreed to reform the higher education system, including through mergers of higher education institutions and by bringing teaching and research together, and via internationalisation, both in terms of students and by collaboration with foreign universities through transnational education.
Academic clusters
The plan involves creating six academic clusters as a result of the mergers:
• Arts cluster with 2,000 students and 900 academic staff concentrating on arts, culture, and heritage and including the National Museum-Repository of Armenia. Here the focus will be on nurturing creative industries and cultural studies.
• Educational cluster designed for 15,000 students and 1,400 academic staff to promote educational research and teacher training.
• Technological cluster focused on applied sciences, with 14,500 students and 3,000 academic staff, to drive research and innovation.
• Classical cluster to consolidate traditional academic disciplines and foundational sciences.
• Medical cluster, with approximately 10,000 students and 800 academic staff.
• Officers’ cluster focused on internal and external security and providing specialised education for military and security personnel.
The British Council and the UK’s Quality Assurance Agency have been providing encouragement to Armenia’s plans to transform its higher education and research sectors.
A British Council spokesman told University World News that as well as providing insight and understanding of the sensitivities and complications of bringing different higher education institutions together, “there will likely be opportunities for UK and other international universities to get involved in creating joint, double-award or validated programmes”.
TNE opportunities
A recent British Council report looking at the potential for UK transnational (TNE) developments in Central Asia, Caucuses, and Western Balkan said: “Universities wishing to establish TNE programmes in Armenia should consider which university cluster and what TNE model – whether joint, double award or validated – would be most suitable based on their own teaching and research strengths.
“It is important to note that the Armenian government also intends for Academic City to host franchise universities or international branch campuses. They are open to the development of TNE programmes between domestic Armenian universities and foreign universities.”
UAL is already talking about developing an MA animation programme and a TNE programme in fashion. The UK’s QAA signed a memorandum of understanding with Armenia’s National Centre for Professional Education Quality Assurance Foundation (ANQA) in November 2024 during a British Council “Internationalising Higher Education in Armenia” event.
This commits both sides to work together to build staff capacity, observe each other’s review activities, and explore opportunities for joint working in matters of international accreditation and higher education review work.
QAA’s Executive Director of Operations and Deputy Chief Executive Vicki Stott said: “I’m looking forward to working closely with ANQA colleagues to share insights and information, and to enhance opportunities for the higher education sectors in both our countries.”
Mixed reaction
Of course, not everyone is happy with the centralisation of Armenia’s scientific and academic system into one major centre, with the country’s independent news outlet EVN Report saying the government’s proposals have generated “both scepticism and controversy”.
In a news report in July, it said this was partly because the Academic City project would be part-funded by the sale of state-owned university buildings, most of which are in central Yerevan.
The news story claimed that most of the larger Armenian universities had “expressed their opposition to the proposed expansion and relocations” and that “the future of historic university buildings that give the city its character remains uncertain”.
It went on to quote Serob Khachatryan, an education expert and lecturer at Yerevan State University, saying: “Although I agree that the number of universities in Armenia is large and some mergers are possible, the extensive programme currently being proposed threatens both university education and science.”
However, another quoted expert, Samvel Karabekyan, said he believed “the expansion of universities is not only urgent, but perhaps even overdue”.
During an event looking at opportunities for UK TNE hosted by the British Council and the UK QAA and Education Insight consultancy in Manchester in November 2024, Dr Sargis Hayotsyan, chair of Armenia’s Higher Education and Science Committee, said he would welcome moving on from the Soviet legacy whereby research was mainly outside the university system and was interested in hearing about TNE proposals from British universities.
“We need to change the curriculum to reflect the needs of today’s businesses and industries and improve the student experience, and the Academic City will provide a good neighbourhood experience for living, studying and culture, and enable scientific research [while also] providing entertainment.
“We are providing the kind of infrastructure to make all this possible,” he said.
Nic Mitchell is a UK-based freelance journalist and PR consultant specialising in European and international higher education. He blogs at www.delacourcommunications.