Center for Education Projects PIU The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports

On July 30 within the frameworks of the second main stage of the Competitive Innovation fund (CIF) grant contracts were signed between Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport “Center for Educational Projects” CFEP PIU and six Higher Educational Institutions of RA. It should be noted, that since January of this year within the frameworks of the “Education Improvement” credit project’s Competitive Innovation Fund second main stage, the process of providing grants to the Higher Educational Institutions of RA on a competitive basis has launched, and the deadline for the submission of grant proposals was set till April 16 of the ongoing year. It is worth to mention, that the process of providing grants to the HEIs within the frameworks of CIF is being organized in accordance to the Operational Manual of CIF Implementation, approved by the order of the Minister of Education and Science of RA (1713-A/2, 20 December, 2018). It should also be mentioned, that on March 21-22 a two-day workshop was organized and held by the ‘’Center for Educational Projects’’PIU for the purpose of assisting the grant proposals submission process. It should be noted, that 13 grant project proposals from 11 Higher Educational Institutions have been submitted by the deadline. ‘’Center for Educational Projects’’ PIU checked the eligibility and completeness of the submitted proposals, then, according to the CIF OM, they were evaluated by the Proposal Review Panel. Taking into account the evaluation results, the CIF Steering Committee at its July 19 session, decided to provide grants to the highest rated top six Higher Educational Institutions, which are: National University of Architecture and Construction of Armenia, Yerevan State University, Yerevan State University of Languages and Social Sciences after V. Brusov, Yerevan State Medical University after M. Heratsi, Russian-Armenian University, Armenian National Agrarian University. As a result, grant contracts were signed between the above mentioned HEIs and the CFEP PIU, which will be followed by the grant projects implementation process. We should also add, that 22 innovative projects in Armenian state and non-state HEIs within the frameworks of the Competitive Innovation Fund have been implemented till today.