KICK-OFF MEETING OF THE ERASMUS+ ECAMPUS PROJECT HELD AT YEREVAN STATE UNIVERSITY ON FEBRUARY 12-13, 2025

Yerevan State University hosted the kick-off meeting of the "Fostering Socially Distanced and Inclusive On-Campus Education in Armenian Higher Education Institutions" eCAMPUS, ERASMUS+CBHE #101177299 PROJECT on February 12-13, 2025. Approximately 80 participants from Armenia - university leadership, teaching staff, policy and decision-makers, wider public representatives) as well as representatives of the EU institutions – members of the consortium of the project introduced the project objectives, deliverables, and milestones, discussed the quality issues and the deadlines of the activities within 7 Work Packages of the project. The project coordinator is Yerevan State University which is going to lead the project and manage its smooth and efficient implementation throughout the whole lifetime of the project. The Erasmus+ eCAMPUS is a four-year EU-funded project aimed at developing capacities in the higher education sector. Its primary goal is to enhance the quality of online and digital teaching, learning, and assessment in the Armenian higher education system. Through this project, lecturers and administrative staff from Armenian higher education institutions will acquire new skills and competencies in digital teaching, learning, assessment, and quality assurance. The project will also develop a regulatory framework for part-time studies and provisions for common online course registration and student progression e-platform aimed at supporting a smooth transition of AM HEIs from correspondence to part-time study mode and enhancing the accessibility of HE. Project Participants The project brings together several universities and institutions from Armenia and EU countries:

Armenian Institutions:

• Yerevan State University (YSU) – Project Coordinator Armenian institutions:

• Armenian State Pedagogical University (ASPU)

• Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU)

• Northern University (NU)

• Institute for Informatics and Automation Problems (IIAP) of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia

• National Center for Professional Education Quality Assurance Foundation (ANQA)

• Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports of the Republic of Armenia (MoESCS)

European Institutions:

• Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), Spain

• University of Lisbon (ULISBOA), Portugal

• University of Genoa (UNIGE), Italy

• Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden

This collaboration will contribute to the modernization of higher education in Armenia, ensuring a high-quality, inclusive, and accessible digital learning environment.