DeSIRe

 Development of Soft Skills at Higher Education Institutions of Armenia and Georgia in Compliance with the 21st Century Labour Market Requirements  [DeSIRe]

 

Project Number:

 

101128804 — DeSIRe — ERASMUS-EDU-2023-CBHE

 

Project Duration:

 

01․12․2023 – 30․11․2026

 

Project Coordinator:

Vanadzor State University after H. Tumanyan

Partners of the DeSIRe Project:

Armenia

  1. Armenian State Pedagogical University after Khachatur Abovyan Foundation (ASPU)
  2. State Academy of Fine Arts of Armenia Foundation (SAFAA)
  3. Goris State University (GSU)
  4. “NGO Center” Civil Society Development Organization (NGOC)
  5. National Center for Professional Education Quality Assurance Foundation (ANQA)

Georgia

  1. Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU)
  2. Ilia State University (ISU)
  3. Shota Rustaveli State University (BSU)
  4. Sokhumi State University (SOU)
  5. National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement (NCEQE)

 EU Partners 

  1. Technical University of Dresden (TUD), Germany
  2. Lappeenrannan-Lahden Teknillinen Yliopisto (LUT), Finland
  3. University of Granada (UGR), Spain
  4. Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design & Technology (IADT), Ireland

Short Description

The three-year DeSIRe project, funded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ Capacity Building program, aims to enhance the development of soft skills in higher education institutions in Armenia and Georgia, aligning them with the demands of the 21st-century job market. The development of soft skills ensures that students receive a well-rounded education and equips individuals with the ability to adapt to a constantly changing environment and stay competitive in the job market. The project aims to bridge the gap between the soft skills provided by higher education institutions in Armenia and Georgia and the needs of the labor market.

 

Many academic programs at universities in Armenia and Georgia are primarily based on traditional scientific teaching methods. These methods largely enhance students’ subject-specific abilities and skills. Consequently, soft skills remain underdeveloped, as they are not sufficiently evolved or adapted to the latest trends in education and the rapidly changing demands of the labor market. This is particularly noticeable in teaching methodology, content, and the assessment of soft skills. To achieve a more advanced level of knowledge and abilities based on soft skills in universities, this project aims to develop and implement five modules and five massive open online courses (MOOCs) related to soft skills in both formal and non-formal education for bachelor’s and master’s programs. The modules will be developed based on the Tuning methodology, aligned with a student-centered approach and labor market demand perspective. This will promote staff mobility in higher education institutions in Armenia and Georgia.

 

The overall objective of the project is fostering the development of national education systems in Armenia and Georgia regarding SS-based teaching and learning methodologies, tailored framework, strategies, and techniques through enhancing the quality of academic content in line with the 21st century labour market to boost students’ career prospects, their employability and entrepreneurial skillset, thereby helping them deal effectively with challenges of their professional and everyday life.

 

           The specific objectives of the project are as follows:

 

  • to develop/revise institutional policies, procedures, mechanisms and tools for SS-based and project-based teaching and learning in line with Tuning Methodology from a student-centred and a labour-market-demand perspective to achieve the desired SS-related learning outcomes;
  • to build up capacities of the ARM & GE HEIs’ academic staff by developing their abilities of competency- and performance-based teaching on programme countries’ best practices to be able to identify gaps in their SS perception and propose some innovative approaches to their development through a critical and systematic evaluation of existing teaching methods, techniques and strategies;
  • to develop and implement 10 SS modules in formal and non-formal T&L in PC HEIs so that they will be more tailored to the current trends and needs for the SS and will gradually bridge the discrepancy between the skills obtained in higher education and those demanded by the labour market;
  • to design and develop SS Methodologies and Assessment in line with current trends and approaches in higher education to enable ARM&GE HEIs to explore the integrative, transferable and empowering nature of SS and their significant role in multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary learning.
  • to strengthen cooperation among consortium partners through joint and sound management, quality, dissemination and exploitation activities of the project.

 

The DeSIRe project at VSU is executed by Project Coordinator Lusik Vardanyan, Co-coordinator Gohar Dokholyan, Financial Manager Ghukas Ghukasyan, Vice-Rector for Scientific Affairs Varduhi Hovsepyan, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Lusine Kostandyan, Head of the QA Centre Anna Khachatryan, Assistant Professor of Foreign Languages and Literature Arine Danielyan, and Associate Professor of Pedagogy and Psychology Vanane Mirzoyan.