Seven Armenian universities to gain access to ChatGPT Edu

OpenAI and Armenia's Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports have launched a new cooperation aimed at transforming the country's education system through artificial intelligence. As part of the partnership, an OpenAI delegation visited Armenia to present ChatGPT Edu.

During its working visit, the OpenAI delegation met with representatives of the school and higher education sectors. The visit sought to develop the Armenia-OpenAI education partnership and support educators' professional development.

The meetings at YSU focused on practical steps for introducing ChatGPT Edu in Armenian universities, the readiness of the higher education system, the distribution of institutional roles, technical arrangements, the organization of training programs, and new opportunities in higher education, research and academic administration.

Rafayel Barkhudaryan, YSU Vice-Rector for Scientific Affairs, said OpenAI's education package, ChatGPT Edu, had been acquired for Armenia's higher and secondary educational institutions through cooperation between the state and the private sector.

ChatGPT Edu is designed for educational institutions, giving schools and universities access to advanced artificial intelligence tools while maintaining high standards for data protection, information security and administration. In higher education, the platform will be available to both faculty members and students, while in the school sector, teachers and high school students will be able to use it.

Under the initiative, beneficiaries will gain access to ChatGPT Edu, a special educational version of ChatGPT. The first phase of the program will run from July 1 to Dec. 31, after which the initiative is expected to continue expanding. Presenting the phased approach to introducing the platform in higher education, the program's governance structure, the formats for university involvement and the key conditions for success, OpenAI representatives said the goal was not only to provide access to the technology but also to strengthen AI literacy and position Armenia internationally as a pioneer in the field.

At the start of the new academic year, Armenia's education, engineering and research communities will receive about 50,000 free subscriptions through the partnership among the ministry, OpenAI and Firebird. Necessary preparations and training courses will be conducted before September to ensure a smooth launch at the beginning of the academic year.

According to OpenAI representative Alina Leoni, specialized teams will be formed at universities to implement the program, while technical support will be provided in close cooperation with the National Center for Educational Technologies. The center will provide technical and administrative support, including user access to the platform through student email addresses.

OpenAI representatives said the organization will also provide access to OpenAI Academy, which will offer video lessons, guides and webinars. Faculty members will learn how to use ChatGPT for lesson planning, research and workflow automation, while students will strengthen their academic skills. 

A working meeting was also held with faculty members, trainers and teachers to develop their capacity to use artificial intelligence, particularly agentic AI tools, in the educational process.

The discussion focused not only on the operational capabilities of ChatGPT Edu and Codex but also on how faculty members and trainers can turn these platforms into practical tools for teaching, research, the development of instructional materials and work with students.

Participants emphasized the importance of forming networks of "champions" in universities and schools, as well as effectively applying the train-the-trainer model.

The OpenAI team also met with university IT representatives to discuss features such as integrating ChatGPT with Excel or PowerPoint. Meetings were also held with university program coordinators and students.

As part of the working discussions, the first year of the Education for Countries program is expected to be officially launched. The program will define governance mechanisms, success evaluation criteria and an implementation road map developed with OpenAI's support. It will be carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, the National Center for Educational Technologies, the National Center for Education Development and Innovation, and partner organizations.

The OpenAI team plans to visit Armenia regularly and hold hackathons and workshops to better understand the needs of educational institutions on the ground.

As part of the visit, OpenAI representatives also toured the supercomputing center established at YSU in January with state funding and were briefed on the work of the university's machine learning laboratory. The delegation also visited the Sarkis and Marie Izmirlian Library at YSU, where members viewed rare examples of early printed books.