Luys Foundation Unites Armenians in Promoting Excellence in Education
July 11, 2013
YEREVAN – It’s that time of year at the Luys Foundation headquarters in
downtown Yerevan. The Luys scholars are just returning to participate
in the Develop Armenia Program (DAP), where they’ll utilize their
acquired knowledge and skills to mentor the youth, who are mostly in
their early twenties.
luys2 300×245 Luys Foundation Unites Armenians in Promoting Excellence
in Education
Luys has a two-fold mission: learn and do.
The summer is packed with nonstop activities. From July 6-9, Luys
scholars, their mentees, and the Luys team will convene in
Yeghegnadzor to review DAP project proposals and prepare teams for the
fieldwork to be carried out. Then, starting on July 11, DAP
participants will split into groups, each comprised of around 15
people, and will go out to the regions of Armenia and Artsakh. They
will have the opportunity to see the country from a different
perspective, listen to citizens, and collaborate with one another to
identify community needs. The goal is to collectively design and run
projects and activities that address those priorities.
What Luys does
Luys has a two-fold mission: learn and do. Learn: The Luys Scholarship
program augments the number of Armenian scholars in the world’s top
universities. Luys ensures that Armenians come together as creative
thinkers for Armenia’s benefit and contribute to the world. Several
countries share many of our challenges. Do: The Develop Armenia
Program harvests the fundamental knowledge and best practices of its
scholars. Luys creates the transition from academic knowledge into
real-life practice through concrete, meticulously planned field
programs. Possessing knowledge is not enough; what’s vital is how to
use it.
Luys is ready to support the education of any Armenian citizen or
someone of Armenian descent aged 18-40 who is accepted into one of the
world’s top universities.
For 28 years, Luys Foundation Executive Director Jacqueline
Karaaslanian worked for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT), where she ran the Future of Learning and Media Fabrics groups
before moving to Yerevan in 2009 to assume her new role. `Some ask,
`Why only the world’s top-tier universities?’ Because the entire world
struggles with the challenges that Armenia also faces, and the most
creative and inventive people gather and design the future at those
institutions. Armenians must be among them,’ Karaaslanian said.
`It’s the first time in this century since 1915 that an institution
was created by the country to bring together the Armenian brain
trust,’ she explained. `I think it’s a powerful vision from Luys
Foundation’s founders, President Serge Sarkisian and Prime Minister
Tigran Sargsyan.’
Luys scholars have already secured successes. Only recently a Luys
scholar at MIT, Armen Mkrchjyan from the city of Armavir, filed a
patent for his invention of a technology that will enable farmers
anywhere in the world to better manage their crops. A Luys scholar at
Cambridge University in England, Vahe Tshitoyan, was congratulated by
Prince Charles on receiving an award for his research in material
physics to respond to the ever growing need of new energy sources. At
Columbia University, Luys scholar Lilly Djaniants was awarded a grant
for her research in architecture for peace. These are accomplishments
from only the past five months.
`Our accomplishments do not measure only in the number of scholarships
we grant – although it is high with 200 per year – but in the quality of
what our thinkers produce for Armenia and by extension for the world,’
said 36-year-old Gayane Ghumashyan, who has been with Luys from the
very start.
How it all works
Luys scholars are hoping to create a self-sustained education fund.
`Each of us needs to begin contributing a minimum of only $10 a year
for 3 or 4 years to reach $300 million by 2015,’ Karaaslanian said.
`There are 10 million Armenians worldwide. The interest rate generated
by the endowment fund would provide a more than healthy average of 350
scholarships per year and perpetually.’
In addition to granting scholarships, the Luys Foundation engineers
the infrastructure to harvest and invest the knowledge of its scholars
in Armenia while shaping the knowledge trends of the world. And about
500 high school students are enrolled in Luys’s mentorship and
internship programs.
`Armenia cannot be isolated from the world,’ Karaaslanian said. `Our
founders envision Armenia as an active participant along with the
leading nations. Armenia must contribute to the new knowledge-based
economy. Luys scholars, while participating in shaping the knowledge
trends of the world, also bring their knowledge to Armenia for the
benefit of our people. The fuel of the future is brainpower,
education, and innovation, and we must produce.’
Since it was founded only four years ago, almost 260 Armenian students
have benefited from Luys with an average of $22,000 per scholarship
and a total of $9,042,000. This is an all-time high scholarship
granting process and the biggest in the Armenian world. The funding so
far has come from the private sector and all successful Armenian
companies from Armenia.
Luys scholars have been attended such universities as Columbia,
Harvard, MIT, UCL, Cambridge, Oxford, Toronto, École Polytechnique,
Hong Kong University, and ETH Zurich. The numbers of grantees are
incrementally doubling every year.
Why Luys is a good investment
Luys generates the fastest rate of students with the highest education
settling in Armenia. To date, 54 percent of the nation’s graduating
population is happily employed in Armenia, of which 20 percent are
originally from the diaspora.
The foundation’s achievement is already visible. The high
concentration of Luys scholars in the world’s top centers of
excellence has successfully branded Armenia as a country with powerful
brainpower and a land of opportunities.
The operational costs are the lowest of efficiently run foundations,
using only 7 percent of its full budget; the remaining 93 percent is
dedicated to scholarships.
The message is clear: Armenia is standing tall and working hard to
emerge from a charity model of survival. Armenia’s private sector is
still in major need of development and support but also in need of a
workforce with a 21st-century set of skills. Luys is responding to the
need.
The results
Luys is the instrument for creating an ecosystem of private and public
institutions that work together in Armenia. Luys alumni work in every
sector of the economy, and they know the meaning of co-creating and
co-producing.
`We have a very long and eloquent list of successes that we consider
the success of all Armenians. The intention is to continue raising the
number of Luys scholars annually. We believe that Luys’s fundraising
strategy can be achieved by 2015-16 and we need everyone’s help in
order to get there.’
Any of the 260 Luys scholars can be contacted through the Luys
Foundation’s website (), where
their biographies are posted.
Karaaslanian has high expectations about the Luys Foundation’s future
undertakings for promoting excellence in education throughout the
Armenian world. `We want young people who not only dream big but work
hard to build the positive future of our homeland.’
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
