YSU Academic Council holds first meeting of 2026-2027 academic year

The meeting began with the approval of the agenda, followed by an award ceremony honoring YSU students who have achieved notable results in various academic and research competitions and platforms.

YSU Academic Secretary Meri Hovhannisyan presented the students' achievements. The ceremony began with recognizing the winners of the annual educational awards in the IT sector.

"The annual educational award in the IT sector was established in 2005 at the initiative of Synopsys Armenia and based on an agreement signed with the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund. Implemented under the slogan 'Discover the best, inspire the next', the initiative symbolizes effective cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Armenia, the business sector and the education system," the YSU academic secretary said.

She noted that one of the seven award-winning students, Susanna Grigoryan, represents the Faculty of Informatics and Applied Mathematics, while the others represent the Institute of Physics. YSU students receiving awards in the three categories were:

The awards were followed by recognition of YSU Institute of Physics PhD student and researcher at the Laboratory of Photonics and Artificial Intelligence Aram Sargsyan, researchers Nikita Marinin and Narek Meloyan, and team leader and adviser Mushegh Rafayelyan for their contribution to the winning project at the international Firebird AI hackathon.

YSU Rector Hovhannes Hovhannisyan then presented to the Academic Council an amendment to the procedure for approving the publication of textbooks and monographs.

"Only works that have been previously discussed by the YSU Publishing Council may be submitted to the YSU Academic Council for approval. In addition, works approved by YSU may not be published by another publishing house," Hovhannisyan said.

Reports on the other agenda items were then presented. The Academic Council first approved the meeting schedule for the first semester of the 2026-2027 academic year.

YSU Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Elina Asriyan presented the second agenda item, introducing the recipients of named scholarships for the first semester of the current academic year.

"Based on the recommendations of the academic councils of YSU subdivisions, 58 named scholarships are being proposed: 46 funded internally and 12 through external funding. There are 68 candidates, 17 of whom will continue to receive the scholarships awarded in the second semester of the 2025-2026 academic year, while the others are new candidates. This year, the National Instruments (NI) externally funded scholarship proposed by the Institute of Physics will be awarded to five students, compared with four in the previous semester. In addition, each student will receive AMD 40,000 instead of the previous AMD 30,000," Asriyan said. 

The Academic Council considered and approved changes to the composition of its standing committees on the development and review of draft legal acts, competitions and ethics.

The final agenda item concerned the approval of Faculty of Oriental Studies student Davit Sargsyan as president of the YSU Student Scientific Society. He has been a member of the Academic Council of the Faculty of Oriental Studies since 2023, served as president of the Faculty of Oriental Studies Student Scientific Society in 2023-2024, and subsequently chaired the YSU SSS Foreign Affairs Committee. He was elected vice-president of the YSU Student Scientific Society in September 2024. 

"Davit Sargsyan's candidacy for the position of YSU SSS president was put forward by the students themselves. In response to their request, we propose approving Davit Sargsyan as president of the SSS," Rector Hovhannisyan said.

Based on the motion submitted by the YSU Student Scientific Society and the results of the vote held by the Academic Council, Davit Sargsyan, a second-year master's student in the master's program "Iranian Historiography" at the Faculty of Oriental Studies, was approved as president of the YSU Student Scientific Society. 

At the conclusion of the meeting, YSU Rector Hovhannes Hovhannisyan noted that work would continue to develop YSU's academic and research potential and improve its environment. He said efforts would continue to modernize infrastructure, ensure and enhance the quality of educational programs, promote student initiatives, advance YSU's internationalization, and strengthen links with the labor market.