KHACHATUR ABOVYAN ARMENIAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY

The Chair of Social Sciences was formed in 2019 on the basis of the Chair of Political Science and History of Law and the Chair of Jurisprudence and its Teaching Methods. The chair has had a sufficient academic contribution in terms of effective teaching of relevant subjects. The Chair’s main spheres of activity are Political Science, Jurisprudence and Social Science.

The main scientific directions of the chair are:

• Geopolitics and security issues in the region,
• Democracy and its contemporary manifestations / modern interpretation of models /
• Issues in Armenian political and legal thought and political culture
• Constitutional issues and sectoral law
• Civil society issues
• Sociology as an object of comprehensive research.

The Chair has 3 doctor professors, 1 candidate of Political Science, 1 candidate of Philosophical Science, 4 candidates of Law (all of them are Associate Professors), and 2 lecturers. Famous specialists from Armenia and abroad work at the Chair, among them Doctor of Political Science, Professor L. Shirinyan, Doctor of Law, Professor V. Hovhannisyan, Associate Professor in Political Science H. Sukiasyan, Associate Professor in Law A. Pkhrikyan and others.

Monographs, textbooks and manuals, scientific articles are published in the Chair every year. Also, the Chair organizes intra-university and republican conferences, seminars, and discussions dedicated to current issues in the sphere.

The Chair focuses on the study of vital issues for the state and society, conducts relevant research on them, and the teaching staff of the Chair publicizes research findings in various formats.

The Chair closely cooperates with other chairs in Armenia and abroad, as well as with the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia.

Employees of the Chair are members of various professional councils operating in Armenia. They supervise dissertations and are involved in expert commissions.

Lecturers of the Chair actively participate in the processes taking place in the political life of the country, have their influence on political decisions made in the country, and provide political and legal advice.

The Chair of World History and its Teaching Methods of the Armenian State Pedagogical University after Kh. Abovyan was founded in 1936 under the name of the Chair of General History

In 2007, the Chair also included the Chair of Russian History (formerly the Chair of USSR History), after which it was renamed the Chair of World History and its Teaching Methods. In different years, the Chair was headed by famous historians: Doctor of History, Professor Vahan Iskanyan, Doctor of History, Professor Vahan Bayburdyan, Doctor of History, Professor Albert Stepanyan, Doctor of History, Professor, an academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (NAS RA) Manvel Zulalyan, and Doctor of History, Academician of the NAS RA Ruben Safrastyan. The Chair has made a significant contribution to the study of the history of acient Armenia, Byzantine studies, Turkology, Iranian studies, and the study of Armenian-Russian relations․

Twelve specialists work in the Chair, including one academician of the NAS RA, three Doctors of Science and Professors, eight Candidates of Science in History and Associate Professors. More than 40 disciplines are taught in the Chair. Currently, the head of the Chair is Doctor of History, Professor Khachatur Stepanyan. The Chair of World History and its Teaching Methods has a strong commitment to training teachers of History and Social Science. In that sense, together with the Chairs of Armenian History and Social Science of the Faculty of History and Sociology, it solves an important problem.

At the same time, the Chair is a major scientific centre and it contributes to the development of historiography in general, and its branches (archeology, history of ancient Armenia and its neighbouring countries, Caucasian studies, Turkology, history of Russia and USSR, etc.) in particular. The Chair of World History and its Teaching Methods cooperates with the Institute of Oriental Studies of the RA National Academy of Sciences and a number of famous scientific centres abroad.

The Chair was founded in 1936, with Professor Hakob Zoryan being appointed its first head.

Today the Chair has 21 lecturers who deliver courses in 31 academic disciplines – 17 under Bachelor’s degree programmes ad 14 under Master’s degree programmes. History of Armenia is taught in all Faculties of the University as an academic discipline.

The Chair cooperates with the Institutes of History, Archaeology and Ethnography, Oriental Studies of the RA National Academy of Sciences, as well as with the Faculty of History of Yerevan State University.

Lecturers always participate in various national and international conferences.