Welcome to AUA’s Strategic Planning web page. Our Strategic Plan is built around seven key thematic areas: Academic Programs, Research and Faculty Development, Service and Community Outreach, Financial Management, Infrastructural Growth, Governance, and Belonging, Access, and Community. With particular attention to these areas, the plan sets out the University’s institutional priorities which will guide our direction over the next decade.
The most important principles defined in our mission, which are at the core of our Strategic Plan, are reflected throughout the document and will become tangible goals and specific action plans defined and reported on an annual basis. As the implementation of the Strategic Plan evolves, the progress made throughout the ongoing process and achieved milestones will be made available on this website.
Our Strategic Planning Secretariat will be glad to answer any questions or comments you may have. They can be reached at [email protected].
Thank you.
Bruce Boghosian
President
Process & Timeline
The strategic planning process launched in November 2023 during a community gathering with the participation of the Executive Team, Deans, Program Chairs, heads of administrative units, and Student Council representatives. A Strategic Planning Steering Committee (SPSC) was formed to champion the overall process, and a Secretariat was created to assume responsibility for facilitating the stakeholder input process and other administrative support. Seven themes were identified as the main focus areas of the Strategic Planning:
- Academic Programs,
- Research and Faculty Development,
- Service and Community Outreach,
- Financial Management,
- Infrastructural Growth,
- Governance,
- Belonging, Access, and Community (BAC).
The new Strategic Plan for AUA calls for a significant increase in the size of the University, including the construction and deployment of a major new building cluster. The University has decided on a ten-year Strategic Plan, which divides neatly into the period prior to the completion of the new building cluster and the subsequent period. A detailed plan of action will be worked out for the first five years and an exploration of possibilities will be considered for the following five. By the end of the first year of this plan, the University will have developed a SWOT analysis and a detailed implementation roadmap, including risk management and contingency planning mechanisms for all major themes described within. All the units of the University will develop their internal KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) tol help streamline the work processes and ensure a professional and fair work environment.
The strategic planning process launched in November 2023 during a community gathering with the participation of the Executive Team, Deans, Program Chairs, heads of administrative units, and Student Council representatives. A Strategic Planning Steering Committee (SPSC) was formed to champion the overall process, and a Secretariat was created to assume responsibility for facilitating the stakeholder input process and other administrative support. Seven themes were identified as the main focus areas of the Strategic Planning:
1) Academic Programs,
2) Research and Faculty Development,
3) Service and Community Outreach,
4) Financial Management,
5) Infrastructural Growth,
6) Governance,
7) Belonging, Access, and Community (BAC).
14 Task Forces were created, two for each theme, to ensure diverse and independent opinions. The task forces held meetings, some of which were open to the community, and submitted reports on their findings that underwent an initial phase of review.
This first draft of the Strategic Planning document was created based on the recommendations of the Task Forces.
Our Strategic Planning has gone through a review by the Board, the Strategic Planning Steering Committee (SPSC) and other AUA community members, including faculty, students, staff, alumni, and external stakeholders. It was approved by the AUA Board of Trustees in June 2024. The final document also includes modifications to AUA’s Mission and Vision statements, which may be periodically revised as the University moves forward with its strategy. The implementation of the Strategic Plan commenced on September 1, 2024.
Institutional Priorities
AUA is currently well known and appreciated in Armenia for its contributions to teaching, including the introduction of American academic practices, such as academic freedom, shared governance, a Faculty Senate, etc. Though the University is less known and acknowledged for its research, its research output has been steadily growing since 2018. Through sustained efforts to attract experienced scholars and research-oriented faculty, AUA hopes to further stimulate this growth in the coming years.
Additional important components of AUA’s expanded research capacity will be collaboration with other universities and industrial partners, streamlined handling of grants and agreements from both national and international sources, availability of intramural funding for early-career researchers, a sophisticated Intellectual Property (IP) policy allowing for technology transfer, and increased numbers of interdisciplinary research projects. This will help commercialize research findings and facilitate their application in public and private sectors. Technology transfer policies should foster impactful knowledge-sharing and entrepreneurship. Indeed, the ability and inclination to participate in multidisciplinary research could be one feature of AUA’s Student Signature Profile, described below.
At the time of writing, the percentage of AUA’s full-time faculty is around 36%. One of the University’s main strategic priorities is to increase the percentage of highly qualified full-time faculty to 50% in the next five years. As the University develops and implements effective strategies for recruiting and retaining experienced and diverse full-time faculty, who are willing to work at AUA on a full-time basis, it should also plan to recruit internationally competitive research-oriented faculty in identified disciplines. Reaching this goal will help maintain the high quality of AUA’s programs and contribute to the realization of one of its institutional priorities: the expansion of its research portfolio.
Maintaining a healthy and professional environment within the institution is key to success. Mutual respect, cooperation, and collegiality are at the core of AUA’s institutional values, and all the University community members are encouraged to sustain that relationship with their colleagues. As the University embarks on the next decade of its strategic development, it is imperative for every member of the AUA community to maintain friendly collaborative work relationships, professional conduct and attitude.
In order to ensure a fair, transparent, and professional work environment the University maintains a wide portfolio of institutional policies and procedures which are continuously updated and supplemented to streamline internal processes and achieve maximal efficiency and productivity at work. Every member of the AUA community is expected to follow these policies and procedures which in turn contributes to the fulfillment of the University’s mission.
Any of the options AUA is considering for growing its student population will require a broader selection of undergraduate programs. The limited number of undergraduate degree programs now available arguably constricts the University’s ability to grow beyond 3,000 students, meaning new undergraduate degree programs must be introduced in the coming years. These should be selected by (i) market study, (ii) potential to retain graduates in the country, (iii) assessment of the benefit to Armenia and beyond, (iv) ability to engage and/or hire and retain faculty to teach the new subjects, and (v) financial sustainability.
The University expects the growth of graduate programs to be more modest in scale, at least during the first five years of this plan; however, this could include its first Ph.D. programs. AUA’s desire to introduce such programs is motivated by the added research and capacity benefits, as well as the concomitant improvement of the University’s national and international rankings.
Over the last five years, AUA has expanded into two facilities outside of its main campus in Yerevan. One is a cluster of classrooms at the Central Bank of Armenia’s Research and Training Center in Dilijan, where the University’s Master of Science in Economics program is housed. The other is the aforementioned Student Residence and the K. George and Carolann S. Najarian MD Building in the Dzoragyugh ethnographic district of Yerevan.
As noted above, AUA has committed to the expansion of its physical plant by a factor of approximately two. This construction, with expected completion in or after August 2028, will allow the University to consider multiple models for how to subsequently grow the University. Options range from a more selective institution with a lower acceptance rate and a total of approximately 3,000 students to a more broadly accessible university with a higher acceptance rate and a total of approximately 5,000 students.
In 2023, the RA government approved the “Concept Plan of the Academic City,” which envisions relocating all the public universities in Yerevan to the outskirts of the capital and encourages private and international universities to join the City. Looking to the future, the University is keen to establish some presence in the Academic City and continues to explore that opportunity.
For years, internationalization and involvement in various collaborative projects and networks have been institutional priorities. In the coming decade, AUA will continue to expand its local and global impact, aiming to foster innovative teaching and cutting-edge research. One of the founding concepts of the University was to bring Western-style education to Armenia and connect Armenian universities to the American education system. In that vein, AUA is committed to deepening collaboration with Armenian universities and research institutions.
One of the strategic priorities of the RA’s “Education development plan until 2030” is for at least four Armenian universities to number among the top 500 universities of the world by 2030. Boasting American accreditation and an affiliation with the University of California, AUA aims to become one of those four universities. Seeking domain accreditation by reputable international agencies would also help achieve this goal.
This goal also envisions expanding AUA’s reach to potential international applicants and study abroad students, both in the region as well as in Europe and the United States. Diversifying the student body has the potential to improve individual- and group-level educational outcomes, enrich the overall educational experience, foster innovation in industry, enhance economic competitiveness, and contribute to a more peaceful and tolerant society. To promote and support international recruitment efforts, a comprehensive international recruitment plan will be strategized and implemented by establishing collaborations with governmental institutions in both Armenia and target countries. This will enable the University to increase student diversity and institutional self-sufficiency. Other approaches to extending AUA’s global reach may include bilateral student and faculty exchange or mobility programs, international research collaborations, international academic conferences on campus, etc.
At the time of writing, AUA has approximately 2,400 students, with the demand for an AUA education steadily increasing for at least five years, as assessed by application and enrollment numbers. By the time the construction of the new building cluster is complete, the University expects to grow to approximately 3,000 students, which will bring it beyond the capacity of its current physical plant, even requiring the use of available space away from the main campus (including the space available to AUA at the Central Bank of Armenia’s Dilijan facility).
Major Themes
The following subtopics summarize the seven major themes that were considered by the Task Forces
- AUA Student Signature Profile
Identifying the kinds of knowledge, skills, and values possessed by the students the University aspires to graduate in the coming decade and beyond. It will be desirable to brand this Signature Profile by highlighting its uniqueness both locally and internationally and referring to it as the “AUA Student Signature Profile.”
- New Academic Programs
Evaluate and either strengthen or phase out the graduate and certificate programs with systematically low demand; maintain the master’s programs that have the potential to attract more students both locally and internationally; and promote the certificate programs that will be feeders for AUA’s master’s programs.
Continuous improvement of the admissions process. The growth of AUA’s research capacity in YR1-YR5 will allow it to consider the opening of one or more Ph.D. programs by YR5, also enabling the University to pursue domain accreditation over the same time frame.
- Organizational Structure
Rethink the organizational structure. For large colleges, grouping faculty in departments organized by discipline instead of (or in addition to) in programs organized by degree may be one of the solutions. Academic nomenclature should be used accurately and consistently throughout the University and the restructuring process. The role and structure of the General Education program as a unit within the University and its position within the organizational chart needs further elaboration.
- Creation of Synergies between Teaching and Research
Research-based teaching and learning can reinforce project-based learning, which in turn promotes empowerment and a sense of agency among students. This vision requires the University to foster a research-intensive culture. It necessitates planning, evaluating, and revising academic programs, ensuring that research has a central role in the teaching-learning processes. Concurrently, it obliges AUA to provide ongoing professional development opportunities for faculty.
Increasing research capacity implies a change in a university’s culture that sometimes meets resistance. In order to enhance students’ competitiveness, the University should expand both interdisciplinary and discipline-specific core courses that cover all the fundamentals in a given field.
- Recruitment and Retention of World-class Research-active Full-time Faculty
World-class research-active full-time faculty are critically important for increasing the research output of the University. The University targets an increase of full-time faculty to 50% of all faculty by FY2029, up from the current 36%. Internationalization will also help the University continue developing innovative strategies for recruiting and retaining world-class research-active full-time faculty.
Endeavor to build a research culture in which research is integral to the teaching and learning process. Fostering a culture of research can promote collaboration and knowledge sharing among faculty, students, and alumni. Instituting a tenure system and establishing a transparent and rigorous system of promotion and merit increases will contribute to recruiting and retaining world-class, research-active, full-time faculty (YR2-YR5). The establishment of a competitive, multitargeted, intramural seed grant program could provide faculty with opportunities to pursue innovative research projects. It is essential to establish robust processes that allow for clear quantification and documentation of research endeavors, which may help facilitate the transparent evaluation and recognition of faculty contributions. Introducing Ph.D. programs. AUA should focus on particular research activities that are aligned with Armenia’s strategic and economic priorities and have the potential to improve the country’s connection to the Global Value Chain.
- Service
In order to ensure active engagement in service and outreach activities, it is important to create incentives for participation in those areas. Maintaining a healthy internal organizational culture of service and outreach within the AUA community would contribute to fostering trust and creating a sense of empowerment. To address this, a “Committee on Committees” can be created to ensure that all those obliged to engage in service activities do so, that all standing and ad hoc committees are fully staffed, and also that no employee becomes overwhelmed with service duties.
- Outreach
Outreach is the continual process of integrating the University’s activities, research, mission, teaching, service, and strategic priorities with both the AUA community and the global community of thought leaders and innovators. It involves faculty, staff, and students harnessing their experience and expertise to increase collaboration and generate positive outcomes for further scholarship, build strong relationships, and promote the mission of the University. A key component of successful outreach could be to draw upon AUA’s vast network of local and international alumni by creating an alumni ambassador program. AUA Extension plays a critical role here, serving as a lifelong learning hub by diversifying its course portfolio, including micro-credentials and executive education for professionals and alumni.
AUA considers the scenario of approximately doubling the size of the University in the next ten years. It accepts as a basic premise that this growth in both size and student population must be made affordable through the appropriate adjustment of tuition fees, and the quality of its teaching must be maintained by recruiting excellent faculty and providing them with proper academic support. This desidera translates into a set of assumptions described in the Strategic Planning.
It is important for AUA’s Office of Development to engage participation from younger donors, and increase alumni participation. More importantly, local Armenian high-net-worth individuals and businesses, as well as high-capacity alumni, should be engaged to demonstrate participation from within Armenia and complement the significant support received from the Armenian Diaspora. All of the above may necessitate devoting more resources to the Office of Alumni Relations.
A robust technology transfer program will prove beneficial to AUA, as it can become a major source of revenue for the University. This will require the implementation of an IP policy, the development of patent applications, and support from IP lawyers. The United States Department of Commerce has expressed willingness to help AUA initiate this program.
For thematic identification, infrastructure can be categorized into hard (e.g. buildings, labs, facilities, etc.) versus soft (e.g. processes, policies, SOPs, data access, information security, etc.) [TF2 IG]. As the University plans its expansion, it also needs to address existing and future space challenges.
Prior to focusing on the construction of the new buildings, AUA needs to utilize all its existing facilities, the most recent being the Najarian Center. As the University plans its infrastructural growth, it needs to ensure that the underground sports facility in Triangle Park and the new academic building project are on track and that enough resources are secured and generated to confirm the continuation of both projects until their anticipated end dates.
AUA’s aspirations for expansion and growth, as well as its existing institutional functions and responsibilities, will entail a reevaluation of some of its processes and policies and comparison with practices of its peer and aspirational peer institutions. The University anticipates greater coordination between the Student Council, Staff Assembly, and Faculty Senate as the size of its full-time faculty grows. Collaboration among these three “legislative” bodies will raise their level of engagement in the University’s governance. Restructuring AUA’s organizational chart to balance the number of direct reports to any given position will help make the institution more scalable for the intended future growth. Introducing term limits on key administrative positions will preclude the fossilization of structures and procedures, thereby facilitating the organizational changes necessary. The University needs to improve existing processes for assessing the current workforce and its productivity in order to consolidate, eliminate, or add certain positions to serve the institution’s needs more effectively, all of which should be geared toward the expansion and growth of AUA. Serious thought should be given to the creation of key performance indicators for all positions for this purpose.
As an institution with a vital role in Armenian society, AUA bears a profound responsibility to uphold principles of institutional equity and fairness. By fostering an environment that embraces Belonging, Access, and Community (BAC), the University not only enriches the educational experience, but also contributes to the broader goal of building a more just and equitable society.
A key component of this strategic objective is the implementation, monitoring, and reporting of the University-wide BAC plan. An initial BAC plan was created as part of the most recent WSCUC accreditation process and was subsequently approved and adopted by the AUA Executive Team. A key aspect of the plan is capacity-building for the AUA community, ensuring not only the formal establishment of equitable practices, but also the creation of a culture of equity and inclusion at the highest level. Maintaining and increasing diversity is a primary strategic objective. This includes increasing the proportion of international students and students from Armenia’s regions to 30% by YR5 and continuing to recruit high-quality international faculty.
Implementation Process
In December 2024 – January 2025 all the academic and administrative units submitted a list of their yearly implementation goals and action items, as well as key performance indicators (KPIs) for their respective units. The input was analyzed and compiled into a comprehensive list which was shared by the AUA Board of Trustees in June 2025.
