On October 6-10, the Irish Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT) hosted another Erasmus+ DeSIRe training dedicated to the soft skills development.
The training was attended by Meri Barseghyan, specialist at ANQA’s Policy Development Division and Naira Harutyunyan, assistant to director.
During the training, the participants engaged in learning through lectures, practical discussions, and roleplays.
In particular, the following areas were covered:
- innovative teaching and learning methods;
- cultivation of communication and teamwork skills;
- mechanisms for student engagement and active learning through roleplays;
- cultivation of media and digital literacy skills;
- development of creativity and decision-making skills;
- use of theatrical elements and experiential methods in the teaching process.
The invited experts from the Dresden University of Technology and the Institute of Art, Design and Technology introduced new approaches to student engagement and learning, while sharing best practices in experiential learning.
Meri Barseghyan, ANQA’s representative, delivered a presentation on the project’s quality assurance processes. Ms Barseghyan presented the activities of the Internal Quality Evaluation Team, which involve analysing previous training outcomes, developing enhancement recommendations based on participant feedback, and planning subsequent actions to boost project effectiveness and quality.
Development of Soft Skills at Higher Education Institutions of Armenia and Georgia in Compliance with the 21st Century Labour Market Requirements (DeSIRe) is a three-year Erasmus + project (2024-2027) that aims to ensure inclusive, equal quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for everyone, providing soft and professional skills in line with working career and market requirements.
Within the scope of the Erasmus+ DeSIRe project, transferable soft skills modules/MOOCs will be developed, to be introduced in the consortium partner HEIs from Armenia and Georgia.
The project coordinator is Vanadzor State University after Hovhannes Tumanyan. 17 partner organisations and HEIs from Armenia, Georgia, Finland, Spain and Ireland are involved in the project.
The project’s quality assurance processes are coordinated by ANQA in collaboration with the National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement (NCEQE) of Georgia and Finland’s LUT University.