Armenia inherited a “from the classroom to employment” education system after independence which is reflected in Armenian society’s attitude towards education. Education for students, lecturers and even parents is associated with “getting a diploma,” a piece of a certificate that one hopes to benefit from in the future. But we should not stick to what we inherited.

I am a big believer that [skilled and knowledgeable] human capital can bring significant positive changes in the high-tech sector and also in the socio-economic life of Armenia, but to create highly skilled human capital, Armenia should transform its education system.

So how to transform high-tech education? And who should take the leadership role in this transformation? The answer to the second question is very clear – government, but the private sector [being the end stakeholder] should also take significant ownership in this transformation. I do not think that there is an easy formula through which high-tech education can be transformed and it is not a task that can be accomplished in a year or two. But considering the untapped opportunities for Armenian high-tech, the government should take the first steps [not next year, not after elections, but] now and it should explicitly take a strategic rather than a tactical approach. And by the way, fighting corruption elements in the education system is very, very important but just by fighting corruption education is not going to be transformed – fighting against corruption is definitely necessary but at the same time not sufficient.

If I’d say only one thing that the government should do towards transforming high-tech education it would be the following: making education the number one item on the agenda of the government and have an “education-first” approach when designing national and economic plans, and even taxation laws. The government should take the following actions to transform high-tech education: