On November 24, the opening of the EMI 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+ SMARTI project.

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.