Mesrop Mashtots University (MMU) is one of the first private universities of the NKR. The university is named after the Great Teacher, the creator of the Armenian script and the first school in the Amaras Monastery.
The birth of our university, like all non–state universities in the CIS, is a reaction to the market’s need for specialists in economic, legal, and humanitarian professions. Its emergence was generated by the policy that destroyed the monopoly of the state in the higher education system. MMU differs from other universities in its autonomy and mobility. This allowed the University to quickly navigate and open specialties that are in demand in the labor market.
MMU prepares specialists in the field of information technology, management, law and humanities. For the first time, «Caucasian Studies» EP is functioning in the NKR. Highly qualified specialists from the Republic of Armenia and the Russian Federation are invited to improve the quality of education.
The university's activities are presented in the following chronology.
1996
Mesrop Mashtots University was established. On October 25, a license for educational activities was obtained. The first preparatory courses are in effect.
1997
The first admission to the university. 75 applicants entered 7 specialties.
1999
The first issue of the newspaper “Mesrop Mashtots University” was published, prepared by students and teachers of the “Journalism” EP.
2000
The Student Council of MMU was created.
2001
June – The first final exams and the first graduates of the MMU
August – A new license was obtained that allows continuing educational process
Change of university management. Donara Gabrielyan is appointed Rector.
The coat of arms, anthem and banner of the University are being created.
2002
May – For the first time, new EP are being opened in the NKR: “Information systems in economics”, “Management”, “Software for automated systems”.
An Academic Council is being created. The first meeting of the Council and the approval of the Regulations on the Academic Council of Mesrop Mashtots University are held
2003
The decision is made to increase the library fund and create a scientific library
2004
August. At the meeting of the Academic Council, it was decided to establish the faculties of the MMU: Humanities and Economics and Law (full-time and part-time education).
The Faculty of Humanities included the following specialties:
Armenian language and literature
Russian language and literature
English language
Pedagogy and methodology of primary education
The Faculty of Economics and Law included the following specialties:
Management
Information systems in financial and economic activities
Software for automated systems
Economy
Jurisprudence
History
The university had 9 departments. An application was submitted for the accreditation of the Faculty of Humanities.
2005
The beginning of the accreditation process of the Faculty of Economics and Law. October. The Higher Institute of International Cooperation ISCI under the Association for the Promotion of Industry in France (SPI) invited the Rector of the MMU, Donara Gabrielyan, to participate in the first France-Russia–CIS Forum on Higher Education “Contribution of Universities to Scientific and Economic Cooperation”, which was held in Paris and Nice.
The Forum is the main platform for discussing the contribution of Universities to scientific and economic cooperation, establishing new interuniversity contacts, developing prospects for cooperation, exchanging relevant teaching methods and new technologies, searching for new forms of interaction between France, Russia and the CIS countries. Mesrop Mashtots University represented Armenia and Artsakh.
2006
Completion of the accreditation process of the Faculty of Humanities. The first issue of the journal “Bulletin” is published. The beginning of cooperation with the Department of International and European Law, Russian-Armenian (Slavic) State University. Visiting student conference of the Faculty of Law of both universities.
2007
October. I International Conference dedicated to the 10th anniversary of Mesrop Mashtots University. It was attended by scientists from universities of the Republic of Armenia, the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan and Italy.
Summit of Leaders and a meeting of the Rectors Club of Europe took place in Bulgaria. The largest non-governmental university in Bulgaria, the Varna Free University, opened its hospitable doors for the Summit participants. The Rector of the University Mesrop Mashtots was solemnly enrolled as a member of the Rectors Club of Europe. The summit ended with the signing of a Memorandum of cooperation between the universities participating in the event.
May. For the contribution to the process of integration into the European education system, the rector of the University was awarded the Socrates Medal.
June. Completion of the accreditation process of the entire university.
2008
August. By the decision of the Academic Council, the University has 3 faculties: Humanities; Law with a department of history; Economics, Management and Information Technology.
October. Meeting of the Rectors Club of Europe in Oxford, Mesrop Mashtots University is awarded the certificate “European Quality”.
November. The traditional visiting conference of students of the Faculty of Law of MMU and RAU.
May. The Rector of UMM is included in the register of Honorary Professors of the International University of Vienna. The dedication ceremony was held in the City Hall of Oxford.
July. Cooperation with the NKR Civil Service Council has begun. The first courses of retraining of civil servants were held.
2009
June. In Barcelona (Spain), Mesrop Mashtots University and the Universitaria Salesiana de Sarria (EUSS), together with the St. Diodoros Foundation, signed an agreement on the implementation of an educational program for obtaining a double degree “Master of International Business and Marketing”. The project of the educational building for 1000 students of Mesrop Mashtots University is completed and approved in the city Hall.
2010
April. Visit to Japan at the invitation of Global conferences. The purpose of the visit is to get acquainted with the higher education system of Japan, with the methods of university management. Meetings with representatives of the Ministry of Education and with companies dealing with licensing and accreditation issues, as well as with the leadership of Tokyo universities were particularly interesting.
May. International Conference “The Formation of democracy in the post-Soviet space. The main tasks and prospects”. Full-time and in absentia participation by scientists from seven countries.
June. For the first time in the NKR, an admission to the department of “Translation Studies” in the MMU was held.
September. The XI International Scientific and Practical Conference “The Caucasus is our common Home” and the V Zhdanov Readings were held in Rostov–on-Don, attended by the Rector of the MMU Donara Gabrielyan and Vice-Rector for Science and External Relations Garib Babayan. In a solemn atmosphere on September 23, the signing of a cooperation agreement between MMU and the Institute for Retraining and Advanced Training of Teachers of Social Sciences and Humanities of the Southern Federal University (SFU) took place. This event was widely covered in the Rostov–on–Don media and it was evidence that education and science are outside politics.
October. Round table on the topic “Globalization processes and prospects for the development of Armenia and Artsakh”.
2011
February. Acquaintance with the UAE higher education system, visiting branches of American, French, Australian, English universities and an Arab university in Sharjah.
Admission to the Master’s program in the following specialties has begun:
Information technology
Jurisprudence
Economy
English language
English literature
Armenian language
Armenian literature
Russian language
Russian literature
Three research centers were established:
Armenian Studies
Central and Central Asia
Strategic Research
A Student Scientific Society (SSS) was established, which successfully held the First Scientific and Practical conference dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the independence of the NKR.
September. USA, visiting leading universities in New York and Washington. The invitation was received from Clobal conferences. The purpose of the trip is to get acquainted with the peculiarities of the US educational system with the management system, establish links with American universities and universities of the CIS countries that took part in the forum.
November. International Scientific and Practical conference “Peaceful Caucasus as a factor of regional development”. The conference was attended by scientists from seven CIS countries.
2012
October. 15th anniversary of Mesrop Mashtots University. Screening of a documentary about the University on Artsakh television.
International scientific and Practical conference “Education and Science in the era of globalization” dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the MMU.
2013
February 19 is the birth of the student poetry theater. The idea belongs to the vice-rector for work with students, Zhanna Krikorova. The first production was dedicated to the poets of the Silver Age and was called “The Basement of a Stray Dog”. This gave the name to the Art Studio “Stray Dog” of Mesrop Mashtots University.
2014
November. I International Scientific and Practical Conference of Students and Young scientists “The Caucasus at the Intersection of Geopolitical Interests. History and Modernity”.
The project “Invited teachers” has been launched. Within the framework of cooperation with the Russian-Armenian (Slavic) University, a group of leading teachers of the Department of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure was invited to our university to give lectures to senior students and undergraduates. The project started with great success and good results.
2015
March. II International Conference of Young Scientists and Students “Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey”. Dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the genocide.
2016
The third license (perpetual) and the second accreditation of the MMU were obtained.
March. Round table on the topic “Armenia and the problems of the Caucasus region”.
April. The “four-day” war. Large-scale offensive of Azerbaijani troops along the entire perimeter of the Artsakh border. Mobilization of the forces of all Armenians to defend the motherland. MMU graduates and students were at the second and third front lines. Among the dead there is a student and a graduate of the MMU.
Our conscripts showed heroism on the first line. Petrosyan Marat, a student of the Faculty of Economics, Management and Information Technology, who shot down five tanks, received the Order of the Hero of Artsakh. Other MMU students and graduates were also awarded for their courage.
The MMU organized a kind of information headquarters for working with fake messages in social networks.
May. For the first time in the NKR, admission to the department of “Caucasian Studies” has begun. Students of this specialty will study five languages: Armenian, Russian, English, Azerbaijani, Persian. The university trains regional specialists.
The Dialogues project is launched. Scientists and heads of government agencies are invited to a meeting with students. The goal is to introduce young people to the problems of the national economy of the country, to educate students in civic activity, to draw attention to the peculiarities of their profession, to show ways to overcome the difficulties of professional growth.
2017
October 7. Round table on the topic “The Role of Education and Science in the Development of the State”.
October 27-29. International scientific and practical conference dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the MMU. The conference was attended by scientists from universities of Artsakh, RA, RF. The theme of the conference is “The Caucasus is our common home”.
Mesrop Mashtots University was visited by the President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Bako Sahakyan. The President was accompanied by NKR Minister of Education and Science S. Asryan . The meeting lasted two and a half hours. The issues of education, the problems facing the country, and ways to solve them were discussed.
Cooperation with European educational foundations has been launched. We are grateful to the management of the foundation for assistance in the establishment of the university, for enriching the material and technical base, for holding international conferences at the highest level, for the opportunity to invite the best teachers from leading universities of the Republic of Armenia and Russia to give lectures within the framework of the “Guest Lectures” program.
2018
February 16. On the 30th anniversary of the national liberation movement and for services to the Republic of Artsakh, MMU Rector Donara Gabrielyan was awarded the “Vachagan Barepasht” medal.
April 14. International philosophical readings of students and young scientists dedicated to the memory of Pavel Florensky. The participants of the Readings were students from Artsakh, Armenia and Russia. Archbishop of the Artsakh Diocese Pargev Srbazan delivered a welcoming speech.
April 21. International round table “The Caucasus in the Geopolitical Interests of Regional and World Powers”.
May-June. Preparation for the international accreditation process.
November. International round table “De facto States in the Post-Soviet Space: Ways and Prospects of their development”. The participants of the conference were scientists from the Republic of Armenia, Artsakh, the Russian Federation, South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Transnistria.
December 9-15. At the invitation of Clobal conferences, a group of employees of the MMU administration headed by the rector attended Advanced Training courses for managers of higher education institutions in the UK (London-Oxford-Cambridge). The course was intended for professional workers in the field of education. The purpose of the course is to study the system of higher education, methods of modern effective management of an educational institution, as well as to get acquainted with the main aspects of training managerial personnel. In addition to studying the experience of English universities, meetings were held with companies that carry out accreditation of universities in the UK.
2019
November 30. A conference on “Modern problems and ways to solve them in the field of education and upbringing of children in conditions of neither war nor peace in Artsakh” was held in Stepanakert. The conference was organized jointly with Mesrop Mashtots University by Yerevan State University and the Association of Social Workers of Armenia (ASRA). The urgency of the problem under discussion is great and requires a speedy solution. For this purpose, a Memorandum has been signed, which will be submitted to the relevant state organizations of the NKR.
An intra-university student conference on the topic “The role of education and science in the development of the state” was organized and held.
Within the framework of the “Guest Lectures” project, meetings were held with teachers of YSU and RAU.
2020
March 14. International Scientific Conference “History and Politics: Falsifications, Phobias and Myth-making”. Scientists from the universities of Artsakh, Armenia and the Russian Federation discussed the issues of falsification of history by the “scientists” of Azerbaijan.