The Annual Reporting Meeting for 2024 Was Held at the ISEC NAS RA

December 13, 2024

On December 12 of this year, an expanded meeting of the Scientific Council of the International Scientific and Educational Center of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia was held, the agenda of which was the presentation of the annual final report of the ISEC for 2024.

The meeting was attended by Member of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, Academician-Secretary Artur Ishkhanyan, members of the Scientific Council of the ISEC, including students, and employees of various departments.

The meeting was opened by the Director of the ISEC, Armen Sargsyan, welcoming all those present and putting the agenda for approval. The Director presented the work for the year under review, which was accompanied by a slide show presenting comprehensive, detailed, analytical and statistical data on the Center.

7 main directions of the Center's activity were reflected in the speech: 1. educational process, 2. external relations and internationalization, 3. scientific activity, 4. development of infrastructure and electronic resources, 5. communication with the public and student activity, 6. quality assurance, 7. human resources.

The indicators recorded in the reporting year, in comparison with the results of previous years, recorded the growth of positive indicators in all directions: it became clear that the positive experience accumulated by the Center in previous years was best preserved and improved in the reporting year.

There were also areas where innovation was recorded in 2024. Among the latter, the following were mentioned:

1. A new department "Studying Plant Diversity and Ecosystems" has been established, located at the A. Takhtajyan Institute of Botany of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia. The new department implements a unique Master's degree program in Armenia – "Study and Conservation of Biodiversity", which reflects the latest achievements in the field of biodiversity and is aimed at solving global problems of wildlife conservation.
2. New master's degree programs have been introduced, one of which is an international joint one within the framework of the Erasmus+ Capacity Building program.
3. At the expense of an international grant, one laboratory has been opened that meets international standards, with equipment worth about 37,000 euros and one computer lab.
4. For the first time, the Center entered the Ranking of Universities of Higher Education, ranking 233^rd among 303 universities.

In the reporting year, the processes aimed at internationalization of the Center actively continued. Cooperation with partner organizations has expanded, new international mobility programs have been introduced, as a result of which the number of signed international agreements reached 88 in 2024 alone, including partnerships with about 12 foreign universities. As part of its external relations, the Center also organized lectures and trainings conducted by foreign partners.

The staff and students of the Center continued to be active in the field of scientific work, which was expressed in the form of a large number of published articles, organization of scientific events, participation in Armenian and foreign conferences, implementation of thematic grant programs, publication of books and scientific journals of the Center. It was emphasized that one of the published books and 7 articles are included in the international databases Scopus, Web of Science.

The Center also carried out active work on the revision of regulations, professional education programs, internal and external retraining of teaching staff, promotion of student autonomy, organization of cultural life of students, technical re-equipment of the audit fund and other areas.

It was also emphasized that the work carried out at the Center in the reporting year was publicly available, reflected on the official website and social media pages of the Center, which, by the way, showed a large increase in subscribers and visitors, which indicates an increase in public interest in the ISEC.

 

Then Artur Ishkhanyan, Academician-Secretary of the NAS RA, spoke. He approved the work carried out at the ISEC in the reporting year, then launched an active discussion on the topic of further tasks of the Center, advising, in particular, to take steps to improve the international visibility of the scientific journal of the ISEC "Katchar", to include it in the Scopus, Web of Science databases.

 

Having approved the effective work done, the members of the Scientific Council of the ISEC NAS RA unanimously approved the annual final report of the ISEC NAS RA.