The opening of the EMI Center took place at SUSh

On November 24, the opening of the EMI (English as a Medium of Instruction) Center was held at State University of Shirak within the National Awareness Days (NAD) of the Erasmus+ SMARTI project. The EMI Center has been equipped within Erasmus+ “Support for Innovative Methodology, Approaches and Tools for Teaching through the Medium of English in order to improve Educational Yield, Sustainability and Internationalization” SMARTI project.

Erasmus+ SMARTI is an innovative project that aims to develop and implement “English as a Medium of Instruction” ten comprehensive methodological modules for the academic staff and students of the universities of partner countries in order to teach the learning content using the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS).

The opening ceremony of the Center was attended by the professor of the University of Dresden, SMARTI Project coordinator Gerard Cullen, the director of the Language Learning Center of the same university Katya Ullman, Armenian coordinator of the SMARTI project, the vice-rector of the Public Administration Academy of RA Tereza Khechoyan, SUSh rector Yervand Serobyan, SMARTI project SUSh coordinator Hovik Melkonyan, representatives of administrative, academic staff and students of SUSh and other universities of Gyumri.

At the beginning of the event, the guests were welcomed by Yervand Serobyan, the rector of SUSh. He expressed his appreciation to SMARTI Project Coordinator Gerard Cullen for the fruitful cooperation and noted that the international cooperation is one of the strategic priorities of SUSh. Thanks to the international cooperation, new structural units, the Biotechnology Laboratory, etc. were established at SUSh.

As an outcome of the Erasmus+ SMARTI project, it is planned to establish another structural unit at the University – the Foreign Language Learning Center, which will provide educational services not only to the students and employees of SUSh, but also to the interested population of the city of Gyumri and Shirak region.

SMARTI Project Coordinator Gerard Cullen welcomed the attendants and thanked them for participation. He noted that the SMARTI Project is of great importance not only for Armenian Universities, but also for international cooperation.

As an outcome of the Project, the academic staff and students of Armenian Universities and Dresden University will carry out mutual visits, experience and information exchange in the scope of the mobility program.

SMARTI project SUSh coordinator Hovik Melkonyan welcomed the attendants and thanked all the participant universities for the readiness of introducing and implementing this new idea. He presented the activities carried out at SUSh in the scope of this project.

The Armenian coordinator of SMARTI Project Tereza Khechoyan and the participant of SMARTI Project Katya Ullman also gave welcome speeches.

The red ribbon for the opening of the EMI Center was cut by SUSh rector Yervand Serobyan and SMARTI Project coordinator Gerard Cullen.

Hovik Melkonyan, SMARTI project SUSh coordinator, and Hasmik Matikyan, lecturer at the “Chair of Foreign Languages and Literature”, conducted a test (piloting) of the educational modules “EMI Quality Assurance” and “EMI Research and Writing Skills” in the newly opened EMI center with modern technical equipment.

About eighty-five lecturers and students from both SUSh and other universities operating in Gyumri participated in the opening of the Center and the courses. During the training, participants were introduced to the main principles and features of the Center’s work quality assurance, as well as and research writing.

At the end of the training, the participants filled out appropriate questionnaires in the online format, which will present their level of satisfaction, recommendations and observations with the organizational activities of the workshop, as well as with the content and delivery of the mentioned modules. Considering the latter, the second piloting of the presented modules will be conducted in February 2024.

The activities carried out during the opening of the Center and the workshop were covered on SUSh official website and social networks.