According to “Azatutyun” radio station, this year, there was a surprise in store for the applicants of the Russian-Slovenian and French universities, as well as the European Territorial Academy one day before the application deadline. Male applicants found out at the last moment that some of them would be recruited to the army if accepted. The problem is that the Armenian government plans to limit the number of male applicants getting three years off from serving in the army after getting accepted into any of the three universities. Whereas until now male applicants were released from the army without any restrictions, this year, only 20 students will have the right to study the first year. The rest will have to go serve in the army.
“I am surprised to see that that kind of decision can be approved in a university, which is a intergovernmental fund and my government doesn’t know about that. Nobody consulted with my ambassador. I think it’s really amazing to do something like this before the expected visit of the French president to Armenia,” said rector of the French university Paul Russe.
“We are facing the reality now, but whoever did this must be held accountable,” said director of the European Territorial Academy Sergey Pichakhchyan.
Minister of Education and Sciences of Armenia Levon Mkrtchyan said that the government’s decision was “normal” based on the fact that the admission to these universities has been illegal for the past couple of years and the government has always wanted to set regulations.