The interest of applicants in the higher educational establishments of arts is decreasing year by year, according to Sergey Sarajyan, rector of Yerevan State Conservatory after Komitas. Sergey Sarajyan said at today’s meeting with journalists that the number of applicants, who want to study in higher educational establishments of arts, decreased this year. 18 applicant filed applications for 40 places of the piano department of the conservatory.

‘If we do not pay proper attention to the issue we may lose our school of pianists. The number of applicants did not decrease so drastically in the past years,’ Sergey Sarajyan said. He added that the interest is big in the duduk, folk songs, estrade and vocal departments. Sergey Sarajyan says the Armenian vocalists have an international fame and they are warmly accepted in the European opera theatres. He added that this is the reason applicants endeavor to study at these departments.

‘Today our people pay a lot of attention to folk musical instruments, estrade, folk songs and vocal art. The piano, violin, cello, wind instruments are out of focus now and it is quite natural, because when one applies to somewhere to study he/she does it for getting a job,’ Sergey Sarajyan said. He mentioned that more than 250 thousand musical and art schools were operating in the Republic during the Soviet period, but now the number of such schools is 100. Sergey Sarajyan suggests that serious works be undertaken in the direction of making those schools active.

The number of applicants for the departments of painting and sculpture – on the basis of which the academy was established – decreased as well, according to Aram Isabekyan, rector of RA State Academy of Fine Arts. He added that the interest of applicants is bigger in the departments of modern specialties, such as design and computer design, because the demand for those specialties is bigger in the labor market.

As to the tuition fee, Sergey Sarajyan mentioned that it makes 600 000 AMD in the State Conservatory. He said the study in the conservatory is expensive, because there are plenty of private trainings. However, the rector says, this amount is not enough for giving a proper salary to the lecturers. The state-funded places were reduced by 50%.

Aram Isabekyan says all the higher educational establishments of arts should be state-funded, as in France. The speakers mentioned that a number of Diaspora-Armenians and foreigners study in the higher educational establishments of arts. The rectors say those students come to get high-quality education.