A new EU Erasmus+ capacity building in higher education (CBHE) project, entitled SMARTI of which TUD is the coordinating partner, began at the beginning of 2021. It is financed by the European Union. The project run time is for three years, from January 2021 to 2024.
The aim of the project is to further the use of the English language in Russia and Armenia to teach academic BAs and MAs in science, maths, medicine, engineering, IT etc., where English is not the official language, and in which the students' first language is not English. This will lead to the internationalization of HE programmes in both Russia and Armenia, with concurrent benefit to TUD, as well as the EU partners (known as Programme Countries) in Portugal (Universidade Catolica Portugal- UCP), Latvia (Riga Technical University- RTU), and in the UK (Liverpool John Moores University- LJMU).
There are 5 Russian and 6 Armenian partner HE institutions in all, as well as one associate partner.
Russian partner institutions: Ogarev Mordovia State University (MRSU), Irkutsk National Research Technical University (INRTU), Kazan Federal University (KFU), Petrozavodsk State University (PetrSU), Certification Association "Russian Register" (RR)
The Armenian partner institutions: Public Administration Academy of the Republic of Armenia (PAARA), Vanadzor State University after H. Toumanyan VSU, Armenian National Agrarian University (ANAU), Mikayel Nalbandian Shirak State University (SUSh), Goris State University (GSU), National Center for Professional Education Quality Assurance, Foundation (ANQA)
Associate Partner: National Association of Teachers of English (NATE), NGO in Russia
Ultimately, the project will achieve the following in Russia:
- Make Russian education internationally recognizable
- Increase the number of international students
- Offer versatile educational programs at all levels in English
and in partner country Armenia:
- Increase the employability of the students by introduction of EMI Degree progammes
- Make Armenian tertiary education fully recognizable for EHEA
- Improve the quality and accessibility of education through updated EMI content and methods to support HEIs and internationalization of Armenian education
More detailed information about the project is to be found in the SMARTI project summary document and https://smarti-erasmus.eu
The TUD team involved consists of:
Co-ordinator: Professor Dr. C. Prunitsch, Dean of the Faculty of Linguistics, Literature and Culture Studies, TUD
Co-Co-ordinator: Gerard Cullen, EU Capacity Building Project Co-ordinator at LSK, TUD
Project Officer: Sven Riddell, SLK, TUD
Project Officer: Sandra Erdmann, SLK, TUD