Why TEF exists

Armenia has a population of about three million, no large domestic market, and limited natural resources. In that position, technology is the one field where the country can compete globally on equal terms, because value there comes from people’s knowledge and skills, not from scale.

It is also a matter of national security: a country’s defense, infrastructure and public systems increasingly depend on engineers and technologies it has to be able to develop on its own. Both depend on the same thing — the number and the level of people Armenia can educate.

We take the level seriously. Armenian Code Academy, which we co-founded in 2015, has trained more than 20,000 people. In 2017, it launched the first Machine Learning course in Armenia; its first 25 graduates now lead AI engineering teams at local and global companies, and more than 800 ML and AI engineers have completed the program since. Today it is a 10-month intensive course that runs from mathematical foundations through core machine learning, neural networks, LLMs and MLOps, taught by practitioners from NVIDIA, YerevaNN, IntelinAir, etc.

Education at this level costs money, and that is where many capable people drop out. Every intake, dozens of applicants pass our assessment and then withdraw because they cannot cover tuition. TEF was founded in 2022 to address exactly this. Since then, it has funded scholarships for students from Artsakh, from Armenia’s regions, war veterans, people with disabilities, and applicants with the strongest exam results. In 2026, we launched 100 ML Futures, which covers full tuition for 100 students a year, with ACA covering 30% of the cost. The only requirements are ability and commitment.

Selecting the strongest is not enough for a country of our size, however. If the base stays narrow, the top stays small. We also need to enlarge the pool by reaching people who are far from technology today. For that, we built TechSchool.am: free, self-paced courses in Armenian in AI literacy, financial literacy, digital skills and professional skills. Since 2024, it has reached more than 10,000 learners across the country, including a digital upskilling program designed for women in the regions, and learners rate the courses 4.9 out of 5.

These are two parts of one strategy: advanced, demanding education for people with the potential to build Armenia’s technology sector, regardless of their financial situation, and broad literacy programs that bring more people into the digital economy in the first place.

Quality and access have to grow together, and that is what TEF is built to do.