NEWS

CBHE Project “Development of Soft Skills at Higher Education Institutions of Armenia and Georgia in Compliance with the 21st Century Labour Market Requirements” (DeSIRe). The training program was structured around a dynamic and immersive agenda combining expert-led workshops, hands-on training and project coordination meeting.

The following topics were covered during the on-site Capacity Building Training:

• Entrepreneurial skills, a core component of the project’s third module. Ms. Valeriya Racheeva from WEFOUND – World Women’s Startups and Entrepreneurs Foundation delivered an inspiring session on fostering initiative and proactivity among students. Her presentation of the Empower Handbook and strategic insights on business concept creation provided a solid foundation for designing relevant MOOCs and training modules.
• Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) - TUD’s Diversity Management Unit presented interactive approaches to Special Educational Needs (SEN) and institutional strategies for building inclusive learning environments.
• Organisational culture at TUD (presented by Katja Ullmann) contextualized how institutions can integrate soft skill development within their own academic ethos. A two-part training on MOOC 1: Effective Business Communication and Negotiation led by Sven Riddell combined theoretical frameworks with practical application exercises. Participants actively contributed to content development, laying the groundwork for locally contextualised online learning resources.
• A training on MOOC 2: Understanding and Developing Organisational Culture, facilitated by Gerard Cullen, TUD’s Coordinator of the DeSIRe Project. This session explored methods of embedding institutional values and collaboration practices into educational design.

One day of the meeting was dedicated to the project coordination issues to review progress across work packages, including equipment procurement, quality assurance, and dissemination activities. Representatives from all participating higher education institutions shared updates on local implementation, and upcoming online and onsite trainings on soft skills assessment methodologies were presented.

More information about the project and its objectives can be found here.