WORCESTER — The American University of Armenia (AUA) prides itself on its curriculum and state-of-the-art facilities. Now, they are able to give an opportunity to several students to study at one of the most renowned institutions of higher learning in the state, the Worcester Polytechnic institute (WPI).
The students will participate in the Interactive Qualifying Project (IQP), which allows students to work together to solve real-world problems.
The AUA students have been here since January and are due to leave at the end of February. In addition to the IQP project, they will take two other courses at WPI. Studying in English should not pose a problem for them since at AUA, many of the courses are in English and students are required to know the language well.
The students are Aneta Baloyan (BS CS ‘21), Nina Kirakosyan (BS CS ‘21), Lilit Ghandilyan (BS CS ‘21), Anna Tatinyan (BS CS ‘21), Knarik Manukyan (BS CS ‘21), Levon Amiryan (BAB ‘20), and Ani Ghazaryan (BA EC ‘21).
Sharistan Melkonian, dean of General Education and director of Assessment and Accreditation at AUA, and a Worcester native herself, was involved in the project.
In a recent interview, she wrote that “students were selected on a competitive basis. In order to be eligible to apply students must have completed at least 60 credit hours and have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above. Interested students submitted an application including a personal statement describing their interest and identifying how the experience would complement their education. A committee of faculty reviewed the applications and invited students to an interview. There was a great deal of interest from students.”