Tatevik Sekhposyan, an Associate Professor at the Department of Economics at Texas A&M University, is one of a group of economists who want to raise the level of economics education in Armenia and make the country more attractive for local and foreign professionals to continue their research.

Sekhposyan participated in the second annual conference of the Armenian Cultural and Scientific Society (ASOF) in Dilijan at the end of June. The creation of the Armenian Center for Economic Research in Armenia is one of the projects of this partnership. 

Tatevik Sekhposyan

She’s one of the eight economists who have spearheaded work to create such a center in Armenia, a project they hope will raise the discipline of economics in Armenia to an international level and will attract students from Armenia who go overseas to study and work to return.

They collaborated with university professors and several organizations, including the Armenian Economic Association NGO, a non-profit dedicated to promoting Armenian scholarship in economics, to devise the most effective way to reach this goal.

"For the last two years, we have been brainstorming with Armenian studying economics at different universities about how to contribute to the development of economics in Armenia, to bring economics as a science to the international level in Armenia, and how to contribute to the implementation of various decisions, to support people and universities." Sekhposyan tells Hetq.

Vladimir Asriyan, who teaches at Barcelona School of Economics, specializes in macroeconomics and finance, studying financial crises, their overall impact and policies to overcome them.

Vladimir Asriyan

Asriyan believes that the wealth of international economics knowledge must be made available to researchers in Armenia, thus the need for such a center.

"Im trying to cooperate with other economists on how to bring competitive science to Armenia, to influence the scientific system in general, and also make economic policy in Armenia based on science so that reforms and decisions are more based on science. rather than, let's say, intuition," says Asriyan.

He says the best option for cooperation between local and foreign economists will be the research center, which will be independent and completely managed by researchers.

Economist Alexander Gevorgyan, who teaches at New York’s St. John's University, specializes in the economic development of post-Soviet countries like Armenia.

Alexander Gevorgyan

"I have always been interested in educational projects in Armenia, because I believe that high levels of education and comprehensive research are the basis of development. One of the legacies of the 1990s was the very negative impact on the educational infrastructure. So, we must do what we can,” Gevorgyan tells Hetq.

He hopes the new center will become one of the leading scientific research institutions in Armenia and will bring Armenian or Armenia-related economists to Armenia from other places. Thus, it will also promote economic education in Armenia.

"It is necessary to understand that economics is not only a technical subject, it is not only about indicators, but first and foremost it is about people. If you are interested in economic development, it is important to visit the country you are studying and researching. And this center can contribute to that," says Gevorgyan.