The RA Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Higher Education and Science Committee

The Basic Salary of Scientific Personnel will Increase Significantly from January 1, 2022

13.05.2021

A Cabinet meeting was held on 13 May, 2021, chaired by Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

The government amended one of its previous decisions in order to improve the public standing of science, raise the living standards of Armenia’s scientific and engineering community, as well as to solve social problems. As Acting Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Vahram Dumanyan noted, the decision provides for the rationing and establishment of the minimum wage for researchers participating in state programs of basic funding. According to the Acting Minister, a scale for the rationing of salaries for scholars, researchers and persons holding scientific positions will be introduced from January 1, 2022, which will lead to a gradual increase in wages until 2025.

Nikol Pashinyan noted that the decision provides that the basic salary fund of scientific personnel will be quadrupled over the next three years: “First of all, with the teachers, there will be an attestation process so that we raise salaries not according to the staff list, but according to specific quality standards. This is an important feature. The next challenge is that researchers may be offered financial opportunities, not only as part of their base salary, but they will get income from case studies. In view of the above, depending on the academic discipline, research team and activity, the salaries of Armenian scientists will be more competitive on the labor market, and this can yield tangible results. We can state that a more attractive mechanism for raising the salaries of scholars and researchers is being launched, which should have a positive effect not only on science, but also on the economy as a whole. This is a key decision which has been discussed for quite a long time. This year we have taken two such decisions.”

More details at: https://www.primeminister.am/en/press-release/item/2021/05/13/Cabinet-meeting/.