“Karo Brutyan didn’t get accepted into P.H.D.,” this was the reply of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia (NAS).
As stated in the previous article, Karo Brutyan had applied for the “Law and Philosophy Institute” of the NAS.
“Someone else with higher grades got accepted into the institute that Karo Brutyan had applied for. There was also one space at the presidency besides the two spaces at the NAS, but we hadn’t asked for that. The young man who had applied for this didn’t pass the English exam,” said secretary of science of the “Law and Philosophy Institute” of the NAS Svetlana Atabekova during a telephone conversation and added that the NAS is angry that what happened to Karo Brutyan made it in the papers. According to her, seeing that the Karo Brutyan passed his exams well, the NAS mediated in order to admit Karo Brutyan instead of the applicant who failed the English exam.
“But they took that spot back later,” said S. Atabekova.
What does Vigen Sargsyan have to do with this?
Presidential adviser Vigen Sargsyan is mentioned a lot in this story and according to the Brutyan family, he is the main character. But I found out the opposite while talking with Sargsyan.
“I consider the accusations as immoral. I wasn’t a member of the P.H.D. admission committee,” said V. Sargsyan and said that as adviser to the president, he was present during the English exam because that was on a wider scale this year.
“My presence there was rather effective. Many applicants failed. The doors weren’t open for applicants who knew nothing,” said V. Sargsyan.
As for Karo Brutyan, V. Sargsyan said that he may be a great boy, but that has nothing to do with doing well or poorly on an exam.
“Karo Brutyan got a lower grade on his law exam than any other applicant. The English exam has nothing to do with this. When Levon Mkrtchyan and I went out of the room, K. Brutyan’s parents came up to us and said that Karo had been feeling bad and asked for him to retake the exam. However, that is prohibited.”
Vigen Sargsyan also recalled that he had graduated from three universities, taken nearly 50-60 exams and that there had been times when he knew more than he had answered.
V. Sargsyan says that he hasn’t called the Brutyan family, as they claim. In response to the question as to why the NAS congratulated Karo Brutyan for P.H.D. admission on June 13, Sargsyan said:
“They went beyond the limit. They decided that they can redistribute, in other words, they decided to have Brutyan fill in the empty spot left behind by the applicant who failed just so they wouldn’t lose a spot.”
This year, 12 empty spots were taken back. According to Sargsyan, this is an attempt to fill in the extension spots and this increases the level of corruption.
“This year, it was prohibited to make an attempt to redistribute. Yes, I demanded that,” said Sargsyan and stated that this whole thing really hurt him.
“I really feel bad when they say that Brutyan’s spot was given to somebody else.”
Letter from the Ministry of Ministry of Education and Sciences
The Ministry of Education and Sciences also responded to the article and we present the ministry’s letter in its entirety:
“In response to the article entitled “P.H.D. admission doesn’t mean you have a P.H.D.” printed in the June 29-30 edition of “168 Hours”, the ministry informs: The statement made on behalf of Karo Brutyan’s mother, claiming that the Minister of Education and Sciences Levon Mkrtchyan said that “he can’t help them with anything because that’s Vigen Sargsyan’s job” is false.
As for the P.H.D. admission, P.H.D. spots are distributed to each P.H.D. applicant based on his or her profession in scientific institutions and universities. In fact, the applications presented by the organization and the investigation conducted by the Ministry of Education and Sciences serve as a firm basis for the selection of professions. The investigation is based on:
the necessity of preparing scientists and science teachers according to the given profession
the effectiveness and other standards concerning the work done by the organization and the P.H.D. students over the course of the years.
Thus, the distribution of P.H.D. spots is done with special purposes.
Throughout the past couple of years, the Ministry of Education hasn’t really followed up on the distribution of P.H.D. spots based on the profession and has permitted the distribution of P.H.D. spots in the same profession as well as others. This year, after the admission exams, a circular letter was sent to all the organizations where there are empty spots prohibiting any type of redistribution with the purpose of getting rid of this flaw.
As for Karo Brutyan’s case, we must inform that the philosophy, sociology and law institute of the Ministry of Education and Sciences has gone ahead and redistributed the spots by changing the “Criminal Law” profession with the name “History of Law and Theory”. This was prohibited and the institute administration will be brought to justice.”