Matthias Fritz has worked in Yerevan State Linguistic University after V. Brusov for 4 years, by the way, he has chaired the Department of German Language for two of those years. Now, Mr. Fritz has returned to his motherland Germany, but he dearly remembers the years of work in Armenia. www.aravot.am asked the former Brusov professor to assess the situation in the university (the order of the Minister of Education and Science about the dismissal of rector Zolyan, the student strike etc.). Mr. Matthias gave a short answer, “Although the reasons for the rector’s dismissal are unknown, I think that the rector’s change is the beginning of the university’s development toward a modern university.”
We asked the German professor to express an opinion on the quality and level of professors and students at the university. “The Brusov University is an institution of higher education, which is very famous internationally. One of my colleagues from France, Sorbonne University, asked with admiration on one occasion, ‘Oh, you work at the famous Brusov University?’ This admiration was certainly about the linguistic and practical language education at the university. Many of my young colleagues from Brusov have majored in the West. Now, two of my masters receive the German Bundestag International Parliamentary Scholarship. There are also brilliant specialists among my older colleagues as well, such as, for example, Melanya Avetisyan. My two famous predecessors at the Department of German Language were Grigor Andreasyan and Manush Harutyunyan,” stated Mr. Fritz.
Armen Ashotyan, the Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia, issued a sharp reprimand to Suren Zolyan, a member of the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages elected by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, for participating in the plenary meeting of the Committee without informing
him. If there was such a thing in Germany, how would the problem be resolved? The German professor says that it is a bit hard to make such comparisons between the two countries, since the educational policy of the Federal Republic of Germany is under the authority of individual states, “However, in Germany, a rector is also elected by the council of the university, however, he is appointed and dismissed by the minister. In Germany, the final word also rests with politics, as, for example, an ambassador has to follow the Foreign Minister’s instructions,” says Matthias Fritz.
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In response to our another question whether there had been a precedent in Germany that a university rector had sued the Minister of Education, he said, “Frankly speaking, I haven’t heard about that. As a rule, rectors are also professors who are temporarily elected rectors and after their tenure, based on their excellent scientific qualification, they can just continue teaching as professors.”
Talking about the period of his work in Armenia, the German professor added that he was impressed by the diligence and language knowledge of the workers at the department, “The work with students was also pleasant, since the majority was eager to ask question and to work, they were ready to help each other. There were many good people among them – for example, one of them gave me an oil painting as a souvenir entitled Our Backyard, which depicted the backyard of the Brusov University.”
Gohar HAKOBYAN
