On January 25, the Centre for European Studies at the Yerevan State University (CES) hold the final conference of the “Developing Joint Master’s Programme in European Studies: Law, governance and Communication” – DEGES project.
The final conference commenced with welcome addresses from Vladimir Martirosyan, Director of of Centre for European Studies at the Yerevan State University (CES), Rafael Barkhudaryan, Vice-rector for Scientific Affairs, Yerevan State University, Kārlis Krēsliņš, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs of Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, and Arpine Jraghatspanyan, Program Manager, the National Erasmus+ Office in Armenia.
The event featured the Project Presentation by DEGES Coordinator Kristine Gevorgyan followed by presentations from partner universities.
The second part of the event focused on panel discussions during which contributors and moderators reflected on and discussed the challenges and opportunities associated with Joint Master’s Degree programmes, Quality Assurance mechanisms and the future for Joint master’s programmes. The first panel featured Dr Anna Khvorostyankina, representing Eurasia International University and Dr Nino Lapiashvili, representing IES – Institute for European Studies of Tbilisi State University. Both speakers discussed the challenges they faced while implementing their programmes and highlighted the opportunities that Joint/Double programmes offer to students. The second panel was moderated by Ruben Topchyan, Director of ANQA (National center for professional education quality assurance). The participants spoke about the importance of Quality assurance and accreditation for Joint/Double Master programmes, the programme needs and outcomes, programme accreditation specifics. The panelists were Atom Mkhitaryan, Dean of International Scientific-Educational Center of NAS RA Scientific-Educational Center of NAS RA, Sandro Tabatadze, Head of scientific research and development department of Tbilisi State University and Dovilė Savičiūtė, Vilnius University.
The last panel focused on the future of Joint Degree programmes. During the discussions panelists reflected on the future of Joint Degree programme, financial issues, national legislation, the role of microcredentials and the potential impact that Joint Degree programmes could have on PhD level. The panellists were Rafael Barkhudaryan, Vice-rector for Scientific Affairs of the Yerevan State University, Kārlis Krēsliņš, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs of Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, and Marianna Harutyunyan, Vice -rector of the Armenian State Pedagogical University. The panel was moderated by Māra Arāja, Director of Information and Communication Science of Vidzeme university of Applied Sciences.
The DEGES programme is implemented by the Centre for European Studies of Yerevan State University in cooperation with and four partners: Vilnius university, Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, Tbilisi State University and University of Ljubljana.
