Number of STEM students down in Armenia

ArmInfo. "One of the most important prerequisites for the development of the high-tech sector is the number of STEM graduates - in Armenia it has significantly decreased over the past 10 years, not to mention the quality of education," reads a message by the director of the Analytical Center Haykaz Fanyan.

According to ACSES data, in 2010-2022 the number of students studying in the first stage of educational programs of state and non-state universities of the Republic of Armenia in STEM specialties decreased by about 30% - from 4.7 thousand to 3.3 thousand. This, according to the experts of the Center, is mainly due to the reduction in the total population of this age group. At the same time, despite the reduction in the absolute number of those admitted in STEM specialties, during the observed period their share among those admitted increased by 2% and reached 20%.

The share of graduates in the STEM field in 2022 was 20% - in this indicator, Armenia is ahead of such countries as Sweden (19%), Japan (18%), the Netherlands (17%), while behind Korea (32%), Estonia (27%), Switzerland (24%). , - summed up Haykaz Fanyan.

Today, former Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan reported a serious decline in the country's IT sector.  According to his statement on Facebook, in the first half of this year, the industry shrank by about 13%.  The main reason is the missed opportunities, Kerobyan believes.

According to statistics, the ICT sector of Armenia generated revenue of 883.2 billion drams (over $2.2 billion) in 2023, which is 54.8% higher than the same period last year. There are 50 thousand specialists working in the information technology sector of the Republic of Armenia. Services have traditionally been the dominant segment in ICT, accounting for 68.6% (compared to 77.7% in 2022) or 606.2 billion drams, an increase of 36.7% over the year. The lion's share of services comes from the information technology (IT) sector - 449.1 billion drams, an increase of 52.4% over the same period last year. Revenue from services in the telecommunications sector amounted to 148.3 billion drams, an increase of 5.5% over the year. At the same time, the share of the ICT production segment decreased over the year from 0.5% to 0.1%, and revenue decreased by 63.8% to 972.1 million drams.