On June 3-6, as part of the Erasmus+ DeSIRE project, a workshop on soft skills development took place at the Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT), Finland. ANQA was represented by Meri Barseghyan, specialist at Policy Development Division, and Haykuhi Barseghyan, public relations specialist.
During the four-day discussions, participants were introduced to methods for the development of media and digital literacy, decision-making, emotional and social intelligence, creative thinking and problem-solving skills, as well as the potential use of AI and gamification in education.
In particular, the following issues were covered:
- the use of AI in education, highlighting emerging opportunities for learning, creativity, and teaching through AI;
- the promotion of creative thinking, including methods for the cultivation of students’ innovative thinking and strategies to integrate these skills into the educational environment;
- the preparation of problem-solving specialists, with a focus on educational approaches that foster students’ analytical thinking, creativity and independent problem-solving skills.
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.