Yerevan, Armenia – On September 10, 2013, USAID, the Office of the President of Armenia, the State Engineering University of Armenia and local partners marked the official opening of the newly established Armenian National Engineering Laboratory (ANEL) at the university campus. The goal of the project is to help address Armenia’s shortage of and demand for qualified specialists trained in up-to-date technologies. ANEL will also strengthen the educational capacity and enhance the research potential of the State Engineering University by upgrading and expanding its laboratory facilities and teaching skills.

The launch ceremony follows the official signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by the Ministry of Education and Science of Armenia, USAID/Armenia, and the State Engineering University (SEUA) of Armenia in May 2012. Through this partnership effort, state-of-the-art educational and research laboratories equipped with modern engineering equipment and software tools from prominent companies have been created.

ANEL occupies four floors in the SEUA Yerevan campus building #10. The area of each floor is 500 square meters, with the total of 1,600 square meters. The facility includes educational and research laboratories in thirty specializations covering the six major directions of SEUA:  Cybernetics, Radio Engineering and Communication Systems, Power Energy, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical and Machine Building Engineering, and Transport Applications.

ANEL will provide students with a combination of technical training and research opportunities, including qualified trainers and modern curricula, to prepare them for careers in engineering. These resources will be available to all interested parties, such as research institutions, other universities, and the private sector.

As part of this public-private partnership, USAID contributed equipment, software, and technical assistance, and the Ministry supported the renovations of the laboratory space at SEUA. National Instruments, the Enterprise Incubator Foundation, and SEUA are the primary partners for the three-year program’s implementation, including initial setup, management and supervision, co-funding and training.