Favouring the reform of undergraduate education in Moldova and Armenia toward more inclusive, digital and green oriented curricula in support of sustainable development
Context
Like other countries, Moldova (MD) and Armenia (AM) have undertaken a transition towards Sustainable Development as defined in their National Environmental Strategies and National Development Strategies. While it is widely recognized that the transition to a green economy would induce significant changes in the job market, on the other hand, education systems in Moldova and Armenia are not geared to address today’s interconnected challenges from global warming and loss of biodiversity to the accelerated digital revolution; indeed, despite Moldovan and Armenian governments both integrated environment and green growth objectives into their strategic policy planning framework and despite the EU’s very targeted efforts to support the two countries from the Neighbourhood East region in greening various sectors with various programmes and initiatives, the educational offer still remains outdated.
In this context, the main goal of RE-GRAD project is supporting the reform of undergraduate education in Moldova and Armenia, enabling the shift from traditional to inclusive, digital and green oriented curricula in support of sustainable development by enhancing students’ employability in the field of green business, providing them with the right skills to accompany the green and digital transition in jobs and beyond.
The improved capacity building of staff from Moldavian and Armenian Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) will make the Higher Education system a solid force to ensure quality education for all and meeting the education targets of the 2030 Agenda.
Objectives
- To support Moldovan and Armenian partners involved in Higher Education to develop coherent and sustainable Higher Education systems to meet the socio-economic needs in the implementation of the Green Deal and Sustainable Development Agenda;
- To support the staff of HEIs and relevant bodies of ministries of education to design and assess outcomes-based undergraduate programmes integrating SDGs targeting environmental issues and digital dimension, as well as outcomes and practice-oriented teaching and learning;
- To provide a comprehensive framework to guide and support the elaboration and revision of undergraduate level academic programmes in accordance with the National Qualifications Framework and to contribute to European integration and green development in Armenia and Moldova.
In particular:
- To improve Armenian HEIs Sectorial Qualification Framework (SQF) in the field of the selected ungraduated programmes;
- To improve the awareness for Education for Sustainable Development in the Moldovan Higher Education system through a document for targeting efforts and ensuring the shift from traditional to future-oriented and green curricula, namely “Concept of Education for Sustainable Development (CESD) for Moldovan higher education system”
- To guide and support the elaboration and revision of undergraduate level academic programmes in accordance with the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) and contributing to the European integration and green development in Armenia and Moldova by improving the Sectorial Qualification Framework (SQF) in the fields of the selected undergraduate programmes;
- To redesign, license and pilot 8 undergraduate programmes in 2 Moldovan and 2 Armenian HEIs in line with new national visions to support digital and green transition and sustainable development;
- To redesign inclusive, digital and green oriented undergraduate programmes and their teaching and learning approaches (including the possible shift from four to three year studies allowed by national legislation) to address the needs of society, industry and support sustainable development in Moldova and Armenia.
Activities
- Capacity building training on policy and design of outcomes (including green skills) and digital oriented academic programmes (in Strasbourg) addressed to 36 people, as staff of Moldovan and Armenian national authorities, institution managers of involved HEIs, their academic and scientific Community, the staff of Moldovan/Armenian organizations other than HEIs and representatives of each RE-GRAD partner;
- Capacity building training on outcomes and digital oriented teaching and learning (in Benevento) addressed to 36 people as institution managers of involved Moldovan/Armenian HEIs, their academic and scientific Community, the staff of Moldovan/Armenian organizations other than HEIs and representatives of each RE-GRAD partner;
- Development, Revision, finalization and adoption of Armenian Higher Education system SQF and of the CESD for Moldovan HEIs;
- Redesign, piloting, finalization and adoption of selected academic undergraduates programmes in Moldovan and Armenian partner HEIs. The selected academic programmes will be the following:
- Mechanical Engineering (TUM);
- Technology of wine and fermented products (TUM);
- Public Administration (USC);
- Food Industry Engineering and Management (USC);
- Public administration (YSU);
- Public Policy and Biology (YSU);
- Heat and gas supply and ventilation (NUACA);
- Geodesy and Cadastre (NUACA);
- Revision of teaching and learning approaches (including work-based learning) in line with redesigned undergraduate programmes and expected learning outcomes;
- Organization and delivery of national capacity building trainings for green and digital oriented teaching and learning (Chisinau and Yerevan);
Resources
- Fact-finding analysis on current situation of the policy, practices and issues for academic programmes design and teaching/learning approaches in Moldova and Armenia with a focus on development of green skills and digitalization;
- Training package on European experience on integration of Green Deal and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into higher education policy and curricula, design and teaching of outcomes and digital oriented academic programmes;
- Redesigned Sectorial Qualifications Framework (SQF) for selected undergraduate programmes in Armenia;
- Concept of Education for Sustainable Development for Moldovan HEIs to favour the shift from traditional to future-oriented and green curricula;
- Reprofiled undergraduate degrees
Impact
- Analysed the state of the art of the policy, practices and issues for academic programmes design and teaching approaches in Armenian and Moldova HEIs with a focus on development of green skills and digitalization
- Reformed undergraduate education programmes in Moldova and Armenia thanks to the shift from traditional to inclusive, digital and green oriented curricula in support of sustainable development;
- Increased the competences of the staff from MD and AM universities thanks to the training from EU partners on new teaching methods and integrating Green Deal and SDG principles into curricula;
- Developed the Concept of Education for Sustainable Development for Moldovan HEI as a guiding document for targeting efforts to ensure the shift from traditional to future-oriented and green curricula;
- Improved and adopted the Standard Qualification Framework for selected undergraduate programmes in Armenia favouring the alignment to European standards, international good practices and sectoral labour market skills requirements;
- Developed and adopted a Concept of Education for Sustainable Development (CESD) for Moldovan higher education system that in the end will equip students with the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for a greener and more sustainable economy and society;
- Improved the quality and adopted the revision of 8 undergraduate programmes with green modules resulting in improved knowledge, skills and attitudes for students for a greener and more sustainable economy and society;
- Improved teaching and learning approaches (incl. work-based learning) of Moldovan and Armenian HEIs in line with redesigned undergraduate programmes and expected learning outcomes.
In particular:
- 36 people from the staff of MD and AM institutions will be trained by EU HEIs on how to integrate Green Deal, SDGs and the digital dimension into academic curricula as well as outcomes and practice oriented teaching and learning (Trainings of Trainers in Strasburg-France and Benevento-Italy);
- 60 people from the staff of MD and AM institutions will be trained by the representatives of their HEIs who participated in the trainings in France and Italy on how to integrate Green Deal, SDGs and the digital dimension into academic curricula as well as outcomes and practice oriented teaching and learning to be involved in piloting of revised programmes ;
- 8 study-programmes redesigned;
- 24 new courses developed;
- 24 courses updated;
- 4 new or modernized labs launched;
- 4 Sectorial Qualification Framework (SQF) adopted for AM higher education system in the fields of the selected undergraduate programmes;
- Concept of Education for Sustainable Development (CESD) adopted for MD higher education system;
- 120 students will participate in piloting new elaborated programmes;
- minimum 40 teachers/staffs involved in piloting new elaborated programmes.
Partners
- Technical University of Moldova (Moldova, coordinator)
- The Ministry of Education and Research of the Republic of Moldova (MER) (Moldova)
- Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu State University of Cahul (Moldova);
- Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia (Armenia)
- Yerevan State University (Armenia)
- National University of Architecture and Construction of Armenia (Armenia)
- CCI France Moldavie (Moldova)
- Armenian Center for Education Policy and Management (Armenia)
- University of Sannio (Italy)
- University of Strasbourg (France)
- Transylvania University of Brasov (Romania)
- CESIE ETS (Italy)
