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We Strengthen Academic Values

26.03.2024

On 26 March 2024, the European University Association (EUA) organized a webinar entitled “Protecting Fundamental Values in the European Higher Education Area” within the EAU webinar series “Toward Tirana 2024, the Bologna Process and Developments in the European Higher Education Area.” Monica Steinel, Deputy Secretary General of the European Union, moderated the webinar. She began by presenting the fundamental values. Then, Svein Hullstein, Policy Officer at the European Commission's Directorate General for Education and Culture, and Member of the Bologna Working Group on Fundamental Values, and Tomasz Pietrzykowski, Vice-Rector for International and Domestic Cooperation, University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland and Liviu Matei, Head of the School of Education, Communication & Society at King’s College London, addressed the autonomy of universities. L. Matei described the closing of the Central European University in Hungary as a big blow to the value of autonomy. T. Pietrzykowski also mentioned the ban of the Polish government on the publication of historical research carried out in Poland, which presented the collaboration of some Polish officials with fascist Germany. He described the government՛s approach as a violation of the values of academic freedom and integrity. As a result of the protest of the academic circle, the authorities allowed the circulation of that article. S. Hullstein said providing guidelines to raise awareness of fundamental values in universities is essential. L. Matei also touched upon the topic of cooperation with Russian scientists. The moderator of the meeting asked whether the cooperation with the Russians violates values. L. Matei noted that some Russian scientists are forced to sign the agreement on the war against Ukraine, but some scientists and students are against the war, and their rights are violated when they are deprived of the opportunity to cooperate with European universities. From Yerevan Haybusak University, the webinar was attended by Vice-Rector for Development and Education Quality Assurance H. Kazhoyan and DEQA officer M. Hovhannisyan.

Prospects of Virtual Exchanges

06.03.2024

On 6 March 2024, YHU external relations officer L. Hakoban, Vice-Rector for Development and Education Quality Assurance H. Kazhoyan, and DEQA coordinator M. Hovhannisyan participated in the info webinar on the “Virtual Exchanges in Higher Education and Youth”; action. Sara Pittarello, an expert on virtual exchanges from Italy, presented different types of virtual exchanges and answered the questions of the participants. Representatives of local HEIs also made presentations. The meeting was organized by the National Erasmus+ Office Armenia. The DEQA team contacted Sara Pittarello, who promised to support us in implementing institutional benchmarking with one of the leading universities in Italy.

Getting Ready for the First Session of YHU Senate

06.03.2024

On 6 March 2024, the YHU Center for Development and Education Quality Assurance organized a meeting to discuss the activities of starting the academic council (senate). DEQA Officer M. Hovhannisyan discussed the principles of participatory decision-making and representativeness. The participants decided to finalize the senate’s regulation and convene its first session in the near future.

Prospects of European Quality Assurance Framework

05.03.2024

On 5 March 2024, Vice-Rector for Development and Education Quality Assurance H.Kazhoyan, and DEQA Officer M. Hovhannisyan participated in the “What’s next for the European Quality Assurance Framework” webinar of the European University Association webinar series “Toward Tirana 2024, the Bologna Process and developments in the European Higher Education Area”. The speakers of the webinar mentioned that the European standards are under revision. Some standards may be added, while others may be merged. Some of them being implemented but not included deserve special attention. Director of the European Association for Quality Assurance Anna Gover noted that national standards should not be too detailed, as this hinders flexibility, e.g., during ministerial summits when standards are to be approved, such wording hinders decision- making. President of European Students’ Union Horia Onita presented students’; point of view. The moderator of the meeting was Maria Kelo, the director for Institutional Development at EUA.

Shifting from Knowledge Tracking to a Culture of Professional Development

01.03.2024

On 1 March 2024, the YHU DEQA team organized a meeting during which the prospects for improvement of psychology study programmes within the framework of HAKA recommendations, college (VET) accreditation, and the YHU assessment policy were discussed. Head of the Educational and Methodological Department A. Martirosyan said she plans to present it during the upcoming meetings. Vice-Rector for Development and Education Quality Assurance H. Kazhoyan said that the University is shifting from knowledge checking to the culture of feedback and personal and professional development where, for instance, student will be allowed to choose the assessment form. It was decided to discuss the assessment policy at the meetings of the academic senate.

YHU Establishes Its Senate

28.02.2024

On 28 February 2024, the DEOA team organized a meeting during which the activities of the working groups were discussed. The representatives of the groups listed the actions taken in February. M. Hovhannisyan introduced N. Melikyan and said that from now on, new employees N. Melikyan and A. Haykazuni should be involved in the working groups of psychology study programmes. In the second part of the meeting, M. Hovhannisyan presented the principles of the academic council (senate) and the importance of its implementation culture. She talked about the principles of participation and representativeness, the significance of discussing and making decisions together, and the feeling of ownership of the goals. It was decided to develop the regulation of the Senate.

Students are at the Centre of the Learning Process

13.02.2024

On 13 February 2024, the European University Association organized a webinar “Student-Centred Learning: The Bologna Process perspective” in the framework of the EUA webinarseries “Toward Tirana 2024, the Bologna Process and Developments in the European HigherEducation Area”. During the webinar, speakers emphasized project-based, problem-based, and challenge-based
learning to ensure a student-centered approach. They mentioned that students should be at the centre of the learning process. Students should participate in decision-making processes and they should be given the option to choose their own forms of assessment that demonstrate the learning outcomes they reached. Assessment should be inclusive. From Yerevan YHU, the Vice-Rector for Development and Education Quality Assurance H. Kazhoyan and DEQA coordinator M. Hovhannisyan tuned in the webinar.

Establishing Partnerships for Institutional Benchmarking

24.01.2024

On 24 January, H. Kazhoyan and M. Hovhannisyan met Mary Merva, Vice President of Academics at John Cabot University in Rome, to discuss the institutional benchmarking of psychology study programmes. She expressed her willingness to provide recommendations to the YHU study programme team, even online. Then, on 25 January, they met Ignazio Castellucci, professor of
comparative law and international business law at the University of Teramo who proposed to create working groups at two universities for institutional benchmarking of study programmes, so that Armenian teachers and students, especially PhD students, could participate in mobility actions, as well as modernize and develop study programmes according to European standards.

GLAD (Governance, Learning, Action, Dialogue) online seminar on Vocational Excellence – how to make it system-wide?

23.01.2024

On 23 January 2024, Deputy Director of Yerevan Haybusak University College (VET) for Educational Affairs K. Kosyan, Officer for college development and education quality assurance I. Porksheyan and YHU M. Officer for college development and education quality assurance Hovhannisyan participated in the following online seminar “Vocational Excellence – how to make it system-wide?” organized by the European Training Foundation (ETF). At the meeting, the Moldovan and Finnish speakers shared the experience of their countries. The Head of Vocational Education and Training Department of the Ministry of Education and Research of Moldova Silviu Gîncu said that dual education is mainly implemented in his country, where a centre for excellence was created to conduct training courses. He added that members of the Chamber of Commerce always hold meetings with college representatives to discuss student and alumni employment. Mervi Jansson, Chair of VETQA, Omnia Education Partnerships, said that in Finland, great attention is paid to employability and tracking the careers of students and alumni in her country. She mentioned that work-based learning is widespread in Finland. The moderator of the meeting reminded the participants that the next GLAD meeting would take place on 8 February.

Networking Meeting between Armenian and Serbian VETs

20.12.2023

On 20 December 2023, the Erasmus+ offices of Armenia and Serbia organized a networking meeting between Armenian and Serbian VETs. The head of YHU Educational and Methodological Unit A. Martirosyan, Vice-Rector for Development and Education Quality Assurance H. Kazhoyan, Haybusak College (VET) DEQA Officer I. Porksheyan and YHU DEQA Officer M. Hovhannisyan were among more than 80 participants of the meeting. After the welcome and introductory addresses of the hosts, representatives of Armenian and Serbian VETs discussed the development specifics of the field in their countries, the work done in the direction of internationalisation and their cooperation possibilities in the frames of the Erasmus+ Capacity Building in VET action.

DEQA Annual Meeting

21.12.23

On 21 December 2023, the Center for Development and Education Quality Assurance (CDEQA) organized an annual wrap-up meeting to discuss the activities under the action plan in the frames of YHU institutional accreditation. The participants discussed their reports and the developments in benchmarking and other planned activities. They decided to prepare monthly reports on the accomplishment of the experts’ recommendations. CDEQA will organize such meetings at the end of each month.

GLAD meeting: The role of stakeholders in developing and managing vocational qualifications: what works and what doesn’t for Civil Society and Social Partners?

30.11.23

On 30 November, the Vice-Rector for Development and Education Quality Assurance of Yerevan Haybusak University, H. Kazhoyan, and DEQA Officer M. Hovhannisyan, participated in the online seminar The Role of Stakeholders in Developing and Managing Vocational Qualifications: What Works and What Doesn’t for Civil Society and Social Partners? organized by the European Training Foundation (ETF GLAD). Edyta Migalka and Marek Marczak from the Vocational Competence Certificate Foundation in Poland presented the activities of the Foundation and the process of certificate issuance to institutions providing vocational education and individual graduates.

PARTICIPATION IN THE EUROPEAN QUALITY ASSURANCE FORUM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF AVEIRO

23.11.23 - 25.11.2023

On 23-25 November, YHU Vice-Rector for Development and Education Quality Assurance H. Kazhoyan and DEQA Officer M. Hovhannisyan attended the 2023 European Quality Assurance Forum: Internationalisation in a Changing World. New Trends and Challenges for QA in Aveiro, Portugal organized by the European University Association, European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, European Association of Institutions in Higher Education, and European Students’ Union. Within the framework of the forum, a lot of efficient sessions, plenary discussions, practice and paper presentations, workshops, and meetings with leading experts took place. The forum sessions were about quality of internationalisation within the European Higher Education Area and outside. Issues such as quality assurance in the context of micro-credentials and virtual mobility, activities of various international quality associations, joint diploma programmes, the role of quality assurance beyond Europe, academic integrity, capacity building in quality assurance through international cooperation, the future of European quality assurance, among others were discussed.

Anti-Plagiarism quality tool

14.09.2023

Discussion of StrikePlagiarism Software

On September 14, the CDEQA team had a video conference with the representative of the
StrikePlagiarism anti-plagiarism software, Yulia Kalchun, who presented it and explained how it
detects texts generated by artificial intelligence. She shared an Armenian language paper,
where the software found out what proportion of translated sentences were taken from the
Internet without proper reference and the texts generated by artificial intelligence. She
mentioned that they are continuously improving their software and said that they offer a
package of their services to Haybusak University five times less expensive than the market
price – only to cover their maintenance costs. H. Kazhoyan thanked her and said that the
University will consider the proposal.
It was decided to meet again soon to discuss YHU’s action plan.

Operational plan

20.07 25.07.2023

Discussions on the YHU Operational Plan for the 2023/24 Academic Year

On 20 and 25 July, the Center for Development and Education Quality Assurance initiated discussions on the new structure of the operational plan for the 2023/24 academic year. This year, it was decided to also include the key points of the action plan based on HAKA’s recommendations, clarify the timeframe and pay special attention to the SWOT/TOWS analysis of the YHU strategy, which will be considered as an appendix to the strategy.

Strategy Meetings

12.07 17.07.2023

Strategy Review Cycle Completed


On 12 and 17 July, YHU staff and students completed the annual review of the 2021-2025 YHU strategy. The participants reformulated some objectives and values, considering the advice of the European experts who recently conducted the University’s accreditation. They updated the data of the result areas and key performance indicators based on the achievements of the 2022/23 academic year. The 2023/24 operational planning begins on 20 July.

HAKA Action Plan-discussion

03.07.2023

Action Plan Discussion

 

On 3 July, at the Rector of YHU S. Harutyunyan’s initiative, the Center for Development and Education Quality Assurance organized a meeting to discuss the action plan based on the preliminary report of HAKA within the framework of YHU institutional accreditation. Representatives of the administrative and teaching staff members and students discussed the draft. They decided that each participant should add their name in the relevant field of the “working group” column to help in the formation of working groups for the implementation of the plan. It was also decided to meet on 6 July to discuss the formation of working groups.

Self-Assessment HR

12.06.2023

Self-assessment with YHU quality assurance tool at the Human Resources Department

 

On 12 June, the Human Resources Department had quality assessment discussions with the participation of the head of the department M. Ghazaryan, Development and Training Coordinator E. Kazhoyan, teachers and trainers H. Yepremyan and A. Shamyar, as well as Vice-rector for Development and Education Quality Assurance H. Kazhoyan, and Development and Quality Assurance Coordinator M. Hovhannisyan.

The participants discussed and summarised their standards-related observations. They decided to make changes, including those in the following areas:

  • training teachers and students on the effective use of the simulation centre
  • the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) preparation
  • training on the University’s strategic goals, study programmes, the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) and the Recognition of Prior Learning and Work Experience (APEL) system
  • monitoring and discussion of SPs with group leaders
  • conducting a student survey on teaching efficiency
  • conducting professional orientation conversations
  • more international meetings and networking for the professional development of teaching staff
  • creation of a student support department
  • contracts with clinics, NGOs, or other organizations, e.g., treatment at university clinics or home care services provided by YHU students under the supervision of teaching staff.

The annual self-assessment cycle aims to identify strengths and weaknesses and make improvements.

HAKA Draft Report-discussions

06-15.06.2023

Discussion of the preliminary HAKA report

On 6-15 June, the Centre for Development and Education Quality Assurance held a series of meetings initiated by the Rector of YHU to discuss the preliminary report of HAKA and further steps in the frames of YHU accreditation. The sessions were attended by Vice-Rectors, directors of subdivisions, teachers, students, and administrative staff representatives.

The participants discussed the experts’ recommendations and decided to draw up an action plan aimed at the continuous development and improvement of the YHU education quality.

Friedrich Naumann

07.06.2023

Participation in the “Innovation and Education-Liberal Forum Armenia” event

On 7 June, Yerevan State University hosted the Innovation and Education-Liberal Forum Armenia event, which was attended by H. Kazhoyan, Vice-Rector for Development and Education Quality Assurance, M. Hovhannisyan, DEQA coordinator, I. Porksheyan, responsible for the development and quality of the YHU college (VET), М. Matosyan, Head of Research Resource Centre and L. Hakobyan, external relations officer. The event was organized with funds from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom.

Self-Assessment Medicine

23.05.2023

Self-assessment with YHU quality assurance tool at the Institute of Medicine

On 23 May, the Institute of Medicine held a quality assessment discussion with the participation of the Deputy Director for international students of the Institute N. Martirosyan, teachers, students, Vice-Rector H. Kazhoyan, Development and Education Quality Assurance Coordinator M. Hovhannisyan, and Monitoring and Evaluation Officer student Y. Hovhannisyan. The participants discussed their standards-related observations. They proposed to more intensively involve external stakeholders and specialists, e.g., young doctors, to replenish the library with new literature, use gamification in lessons, organize a preparatory course admission, create conditions for professional and pedagogical training for teachers, strengthen the connection with alumni, expand public services, etc.

Also, engagement, motivation, and appreciation of the hourly paid teachers and external stakeholders in the development of study programmes, education quality assurance activities and fostering the culture of academic integrity were also discussed.

The annual self-assessment cycle aims to identify strengths and weaknesses and make improvements.

Self-Assessment Economic

17.05.2023

Self-assessment with YHU quality assurance tool at the Institute of Economics, Management and Informatics

On 17 May, the Institute of Law and International Relations held a quality assessment discussion with the participation of the Director of the Institute A. Harutyunyan, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs S. Hovhannisyan, N. Hovsepyan, Head of Career Centre and study programme working groups manager, teachers, students, Vice-Rector H. Kazhoyan, Development and Education Quality Assurance Coordinator M. Hovhannisyan, and Monitoring and Evaluation Officer student Y. Hovhannisyan. The participants discussed their standards-related observations. To enhance quality they proposed to proceed with the following recommendations: organize discussions among students, sign stable and long-term internship contracts with employers, improve the activities of educational support systems, revise the written mid-term exams in some subjects to make them oral, tighten the admission process of students, carry out professional training sessions and support teacher development, share experience with teachers and administrative staff of other universities, update the website and Facebook, develop research promotion approaches, cooperate with communities, sign service provision contracts with municipalities, etc.

At the end of the meeting, engagement, motivation, and appreciation of the hourly paid teachers and external participants in the university’s development and quality assurance activities were also discussed.

The annual self-assessment cycle aims to identify strengths and weaknesses and make changes.

Self-Assessment RRC FB

10-17.05.2023

Annual self-assessment of YHU quality assurance at the Research Resource Centre

On 10 and 17 May, the Research Resource Centre had quality assessment discussions with the participation of the Head of RRC M. Matosyan, M. Baloyan, Deputy Director of Roslin Academy of Arts and Humanities, students, Vice-Rector H. Kazhoyan, Development and Education Quality Assurance Coordinator M. Hovhannisyan, and Monitoring and Evaluation Officer student Y. Hovhannisyan. The participants discussed their standards-related observations. They decided to increase the number of class observations according to the number of students, create a position of quality responsible persons, pay attention to the involvement of students in Roslin’s study programmes, if possible, turn online classes from the curricula of the Medical Institute into face-to-face, create regulations for the protection of information of research participants.

The annual self-assessment cycle aims to identify strengths and weaknesses and make improvements.

Self-Assessment Law-and International Relations

04.05.2023

Annual quality assurance self-assessment at the Institute of Law and International Relations

On 4 May, the Institute of Law and International Relations held a quality assessment discussion with the participation of the Director of the Institute L. Malkhasyan, teachers, students, alumna, Vice-Rector H. Kazhoyan, Development and Education Quality Assurance Coordinator M. Hovhannisyan, and Monitoring and Evaluation Officer student Y. Hovhannisyan. The participants discussed their standards-related observations. It was decided to redefine the legal basis for student engagement in the councils and committees, facilitate replenishing the library, simplify the student assessment and make it accessible, and organize contests.

At the end of the meeting, engagement, motivation, and appreciation of the hourly paid teachers and external participants in the university’s development and quality assurance activities were also discussed.

The annual self-assessment cycle aims to identify strengths and weaknesses and make improvements.

Strategic Planning SWOT

14.04.2023

The First Annual Review Meeting of the YHU Strategy

On 14 April, the first meeting was held in the frame of the annual review of the YHU Strategic Plan for 2021-25. The participants commenced this annual review cycle with a SWOT analysis. They wrote their estimates on sticky notes and posted them on a flip chart. It was decided to meet the following week, to sum up the results and continue the review process.

HAKA visit

17-20.04.2023

Institutional Accreditation Visit at YHU

On April 17-20, experts from Estonia, the United Kingdom, Romania, and Slovenia visited YHU to assess the University’s compliance with the standards of education quality assurance. The institutional accreditation of the University is carried out by the Estonian Quality Agency for Education (HAKA).

The experts met with students, teachers, administrative staff, graduates, and employers of YHU graduates. All the meetings were educational and contributed to the development of YHU.

Summing up the results of the visit, the Chair of the Panel, Prof. Anca Greere, said: ‘The first thing that is really important, and we fully agreed on from the very beginning, is the fact that you are definitely committed to your students and staff and that you want to keep moving education one level higher and higher. And we see that progress has been made in many areas – in some, maybe more rapid, with results immediately visible, maybe in others, results are still yet to become visible, but the progress is pushing on. We appreciate the fact that you are working with HAKA on standards which are possibly slightly higher than where you situate yourselves on a national level. That, of course, means that the journey may be slightly more difficult but with more satisfaction with the results…”

We are grateful to HAKA and the Experts Panel for their appreciation of our work and valuable recommendations that help us move forward.