On November 21, the regular awareness event, National Awareness Day, of the Erasmus+ SMARTI project was held at Armenian National Agrarian University. Among the participants were Gerard Cullen, the EU coordinator of the project, Katya Ullman, the director of the language center of the Technical University of Dresden, Tereza Khechoyan, the Armenian coordinator of the project, Kima Ghulyan, the coordinator of the Technological Future of Armenia initiative, and Mariam Arzumanyan, the program coordinator of the British Council Armenia office. In addition to the Technical University of Dresden and ANAU, a number of universities from Latvia, Portugal, Great Britain, and Armenia cooperate within the project.
As previously communicated, the primary objective of the SMARTI project is to assist professors across various disciplines in teaching their subjects in English and to facilitate the internationalization of Armenian universities, promoting mobility and staff and student exchanges.
Liana Vardanyan, the Head of the Career Development and Life-long learning division at ANAU and the Coordinator of the SMARTI project, presented the project’s progress and achievements. Discussions centered around proposals for organizing courses and events dedicated to English language development.
The project coordinator, Gerard Cullen, and other attendees expressed satisfaction with the project’s advancement. Mr. Cullen highlighted a “pleasant” concern regarding the limited number of Armenian students at the internationally exemplary Dresden University of Technology. The hindrance posed by inadequate knowledge of English and foreign languages, as acknowledged by Garegin Hambardzumyan, the head of the Department of International Relations, is impeding the further development and specialization of students, particularly given the abundant opportunities for mobility programs at ANAU.
Within the project’s scope, ten modules have been developed, with “EMI Oral Teaching Skills” and “ESP Pathway” scheduled for implementation at ANAU starting from December 1.
At the end of the meeting, the guests visited the newly opened SMARTI EMI center.
