Artsakh President At the University

Mr. Bako Sahakian President of Artsakh (de facto independent republic of Nagorno Karabakh) attended the enlarged meeting of Artsakh State University Board on 16 January 2009. The Public Radio of Armenia has published Mr. Sahakian’s speech in full. Slightly summarized version follows, I am in [ ]:

Education and science have traditionally served as basic means for revealing, developing and applying our principal wealth - the intellectual potential of our society. The future of a nation and a state, the pace and the prospects of its economic development and the development of the other fields depend, to a great extent, on education, and particularly on the higher education.

Education and science are of special importance to such countries as Artsakh whose steady development is based on intensive modes of production and science-intensive technologies.

Education plays an invaluable role in the hard process of bringing up the younger generation. Such crucial qualities as patriotism, fairness, decency, law-abidance - which are the pillars of the civilized, democratic, powerful and developed state - are shaped during the educational processes. Hence, even a slight omission can lead to very serious consequences for the development of the country.

The roles of education and science are becoming even more important nowadays as we have on our agenda items such as keeping pace with the civilized world, and integrating into the international community while maintaining our identity. Only the existence of a developed, modern and national educational system can guarantee these.

Some reforms are being carried out to give a new impetus to the development of education and science, and to adapt them to modern requirements. Necessary steps have been taken to build, renovate and modernize educational establishments, and to improve the social and work conditions of the faculty.

…. In the 2009 state budget, total allocations to the sectors of education and science exceed those of the 2008 by 24.7 percent or by 1.8 billion AMD [5.9 million USD]. The entire volume of the allocated resources amounts to 9.3 billion AMD [30.5 million USD].

In comparison with the previous year, our budgetary allocations to higher education have increased by 68.8 percent or 183.3 million AMD [600,000 USD] and now constitute 450 million AMD [1.45 million USD]. Tangible increases have been also implemented in salaries and student scholarships. I would like to add that these trends will continue.

The Artsakh State University represents one of the keystones of the Republic’s educational system. It plays an important role in the development of education and science, preparation of professional cadres, and building the state.

The institution is the result of 40-year long traditions that were further strengthened during the national liberation movement. 400 students of the University actively participated in the Artsakh war, 75 of them sacrificed their lives … Eternal Glory to them!

Nowadays Artsakh State University faces problems of various nature. In order to find effective solutions to them, it is necessary to understand and evaluate the situation in an objective way. Wishful thinking is inadmissible because it can only hinder the improvement of the situation and even complicate it further.

As an alma mater of an independent state, the University should be the main educational and scientific center of the Republic. … here we face serious challenges; the most important being an obvious imbalance among different areas of study and research. …

The fact that only the departments of philology and humanities have published in the 2007-2008 academic year speaks for itself. The share of these two departments in the number of published articles constitutes 55 percent.

On the other hand, the agricultural department has published only 4 articles, taking thus the last place among all the departments. And this is against the background that agriculture has traditionally been the backbone of our economy. I am hopeful that the opening of the Artsakh branch of the Armenian State Agriculture University will contribute to the development of agriculture-related studies.

These figures give rise to serious concerns: It is evident that Humanities dominate the scientific activities at the University. These are undoubtedly very important fields of knowledge …At the same time, serious attention should be placed on the other fields of science as well, in order to ensure the comprehensive development of the State.

It is praiseworthy that several lecturers have published articles in exact sciences in foreign journals; particularly in Russia. However, we are concerned that within the last two years no doctoral dissertation in exact sciences has been defended at this University.

We know that the above-mentioned problems cannot be resolved by Artsakh State University alone. Here, we need a systematic approach - a combined work and a close co-operation between the government, different state bodies and various economic actors. Such collaboration will enable us to define the real needs of different professions in a precise way, and to train qualified specialists for different fields of economy.

The preparation of experts in accordance with modern requirements presupposes the continuous improvement of the quality of education. Both the University’s faculty and the student body have serious work to do. …

The governing body of the University should pay serious attention to raising the level of scholarship at the institution. Within this context, what I consider important are:
> the periodic retraining of the faculty
> the establishment of international links
> the formation of scientific associations
> active participation in conferences abroad
> the expansion of relations with scientific and educational institutions based in Armenia, in the Diaspora and in foreign countries

In order to improve the quality of education it is also necessary to modernize the material and technical conditions at the institution. I consider very important the establishment of an electronic library which will give a new impetus to the development of the University's scientific and educational potential.

… Within the context of improving the education sector, the readiness of Artsakh State University to join the Bologna Process is of special importance. This will allow the institution to become part of the European Higher Education Area, of course, taking into consideration the peculiarities of our country.

I hope that the credit system, introduced in the current academic year, will have a palpable impact on the quality of education as well as on the professional level of the faculty.

…In the process of improving the quality of education, securing healthy moral and mental climate at the University is of the utmost importance. A consistent and persistent struggle should be waged against any vicious phenomenon [corruption] that may contradict the high status of the lecturer. I have been informed by the University’s leadership that appropriate steps have been taken in this direction. I also consider important that, in the struggle against this phenomenon [corruption], for the first time an attempt has been made to combine the efforts of the faculty, the students and their parents.

…. I will personally follow up the course of reforms in this domain [education]. I am confident that we will succeed in having modern and competitive educational and scientific systems and a highly-rated Alma Mater.


To read the speech in full, please click here for the English version, and here for the Armenian version.

To read the 2008 entry under ‘Azerbaijan: Armenians’, World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, by Minority Rights Group International, UNHCR (the UN refugee agency) Refworld, please click here.
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Diaspora Scientists at the Academy

The newly admitted 78 diaspora-based members of the National Academy of Sciences have been officially invited to attend the Academy’s upcoming general assembly. The meeting will be held on 21-23 April 2009.

The Minister of the Diaspora, Ms. Hranoush Hakobian, attended the meeting of the Academy’s executive board that decided to call the general assembly. The April conclave is expected to examine possible areas of cooperation between the diaspora and Armenia-based scientists.

The Academy has not yet announced the names of the 78 elected diaspora-based members. The most recent news item on the Academy’s website is dated 30 November 2008.

Thanks to a press release by Worcester Polytechnic Institute, dated 14 January 2009, we know more about one of the new academicians – Mr. Diran Apelian.

Mr. Apelian is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and founder and director of the university's Metal Processing Institute. He was born in Egypt to Armenian parents and emigrated to the U.S. at age 15. Professor Apelian is an internationally recognized pioneer in metals research and is currently serving as the 52nd president of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, USA.

In recent years, Mr. Apelian has received some of the highest honors accorded to members of the metals processing community. He joined Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1990 as university provost and returned to teaching and research in materials processing 6 years later. He was instrumental in establishing the Metals Processing Institute and has served as its director since 1996. The institute is an industry-university alliance dedicated to near net shape manufacturing with centers in such areas as metal casting, powder metallurgy, and heat treating. With more than 110 corporate partners, it is the largest industry-university consortium in North America.

In 2008, in collaboration with one of his colleagues, Professor Apelian developed “Making our World: Sustainable Development for the 21st Century,” one of the Great Problems Seminars offered to first-year students through the university’s innovative first year experience. The seminar explores major challenges facing engineering in the 21st century, including energy, transportation, housing, food distribution, recycling, and health care, using material science and sustainability as a unifying theme.
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Most Ancient Human Brain Found

Science News and other sources: In a cave overlooking southeastern Armenia’s Arpa River, just across the border from Iran, scientists have uncovered what may be the oldest preserved human brain from an ancient society. The cave also offers surprising new insights into the origins of modern civilizations, such as evidence of a winemaking enterprise and an array of culturally diverse pottery.

Excavations in and just outside of Areni-1 cave during 2007 and 2008 yielded an extensive array of Copper Age artifacts dating to between 6,200 and 5,900 years ago, reported Gregory Areshian of the University of California, Los Angeles, USA, on 11 January at the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America.

A New ‘Cradle of Civilization’?

In Eastern Europe and the ‘Near East’, an area that encompasses much of southwest Asia, the Copper Age ran from approximately 6,500 to 5,500 years ago. The finds show that major cultural developments occurred during the Copper Age in areas outside southern Iraq, which is traditionally regarded as the cradle of civilization, Areshian noted. The new cave discoveries move cultural activity in what is now Armenia back by about 800 years. “This is exciting work,” comments Rana Özbal of Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey.

A basin 2 meters long installed inside the ‘Armenian cave’ and surrounded by large jars and the scattered remains of grape husks and seeds apparently belonged to a large-scale winemaking operation.

Researchers also found a trio of Copper Age human skulls, each buried in a separate niche inside the three-chambered, 600-square–meter cave. The skulls belonged to 12- to 14-year-old girls, according to anatomical analyses conducted independently by 3 biological anthropologists. Fractures identified on two skulls indicate that the girls were killed by blows from a club of some sort, probably in a ritual ceremony, Areshian suggested.

Remarkably, one skull contained a shriveled but well-preserved brain. “This is the oldest known human brain from the Old World,” Areshian said.

Scientists now studying the brain have noted preserved blood vessels on its surface. Surviving red blood cells have been extracted from those hardy vessels for analysis. It’s unclear who frequented Areshi-1, where these people lived or how big their settlements were. No trace of household activities has been found in or outside the cave.

Copper Age Trade

Whoever they were, these people participated in trade networks that ran throughout the ‘Near East’, Areshian proposes. Copper Age pottery at the site falls into 4 groups, only one of which represents a local product. A group of painted ceramic items came from west-central Iran. Some pots display a style typical of the Maikop culture from southern Russia and southeastern Europe. Still other pieces were characteristic of the Kura-Arax culture that flourished just west of Maikop territory in Russia.

Radiocarbon dating of pottery and other Copper Age finds pushes back the origins of the Maikop and Kura-Arax cultures by nearly 1,000 years, Areshian says.

Additional discoveries at Areni-1 include metal knives, seeds from more than 30 types of fruit, remains of dozens of cereal species, rope, cloth, straw, grass, reeds and dried grapes and prunes.

A hard, carbonate crust covering the Copper Age soil layers, along with extreme dryness and stable temperatures inside the cave, contributed to preservation of artifacts and, in particular, the young girl’s brain.

Medieval ovens from the 12th to 14th centuries have also been excavated at the cave’s entrance, underneath a rock shelter.

Areshian expects much more material to emerge from further excavations at Areni-1 and from explorations of the many other caves bordering the Arpa River. “One of these caves is much larger than Areni-1, covering about an acre inside,” he said.
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