As part of the Erasmus+ SMARTI project, the EMI (English Medium Instruction) centre of M. Nalbandyan State University of Shirak (SUSh), and the modules it has developed and piloted, undergo external review. For that purpose, on March 5, the expert panel held online meeting discussions with the SUSh’s rector, coordinators, teaching staff and trained participants of SMARTI project and EMI centre.
Experts and a student expert from the SMARTI project’s partner HEIs are involved in the EMI centre’s external review process. The members of the expert panel are Sona Alaverdyan, Candidate of Philological Sciences, teacher at the Goris State University, deputy director of the “A. D. Sakharov Armenian Human Rights Centre” NGO, Meri Grigoryan, manager of quality assurance at the Goris State University, monitoring and evaluation lead at Trails for Change NGO, Tigran Serobyan, a master’s student of the AP Financial Management at the Public Administration Academy of the Republic of Armenia, Lily Bethencourt, International Project Manager at Riga Technical University.
The coordinators of the expert panel are Varduhi Gyulazyan, head of ANQA’s Institutional and Programme Accreditation Division and Meri Barsegghyan, specialist of ANQA’s Policy Development and Implementation Division.
Previously, the EMI centre conducted a self-evaluation and SWOT analysis of its activities, piloted two English-language modules based on a relevant template and submitted them to the expert panel.
During the external review process, the experts paid attention to the following issues:
- EMI centere's role in the development and introduction of English-taught modules and academic programmes;
- policy for further introduction of English-language modules and encoragement of specialists teaching in English;
- cooperation scope between the EMI center and the SUSh’s other subdivisions, the centre’s role in the implementation of the University’s mission and strategic plan, with a particular focus on internationalization and the involvement of foreign students;
- methods and tools used in the teaching of English-language modules, along with mechanisms for evaluating their effectiveness;
- stakeholders’ feedback as a result of piloting modules, communication approach with the stakeholders and, accordingly, the clarification of the centre's operational activities;
- mechanisms for ensuring the sustainability of the EMI centre’s outcomes after the end of the SMARTI project.
Next on, the expert panel will prepare a report, pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of the EMI centre and the two taught modules. The report will contain recommendations on the areas in need for enhancement, highlighting the correlation between the EMI centere’s activities and the SUSh’s strategic management, and ensuring the sustainability of the centre's activities and the use of English as a tool for professional development within the HEIs.
SMARTI (Support for Innovative Methodology, Approaches and Tools for Teaching through the Medium of English in order to improve Educational Yield, Sustainability and Internationalization) is a three-year multi-country project, seeking to promote a change in the system of pedagogic training of university teachers through teaching in English by modernization of curriculum for national and international spectrums.
Within the scope of the project, EMI centres were established in five Armenian HEIs and modules were piloted. Now the EMI centres and the two piloted modules undergo external review. The coordinator of the process is ANQA.