On October 13, 2021 “Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Higher Education in Armenia” Conference was held in Tsakhadzor Marriott hotel. The event was organised by the British Council in partnership with the National Erasmus+ Office in Armenia and GIZ Armenia with the support of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports.

The conference brought together decision-makers of Higher Education institutions, policymakers, and representatives of European organisations to share and learn from the best practices of entrepreneurial education initiatives being undertaken in Armenia, brainstorm the opportunities and barriers, and find solutions for mainstreaming entrepreneurship and innovation across the whole higher education in Armenia.

Welcome remarks were made by Mr. John Gallagher, UK Ambassador to RA, Mr. Karen Trchunyan, RA Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, and Mr. Davit Sargsyan, RA Deputy Minister of High-Tech Industry of RA.

The panel discussions focused on the best practices of entrepreneurial education initiatives being undertaken in Armenia via EU4Business Innovative Tourism in Armenia project, Erasmus+ Capacity Building “INNOCENS,” “SMART,” “CONNECT,” “FlexWBL” and “WBL4JOB” projects as well as British Council Creative Spark Programme. The panelists were:

• Mariam Babayan, Project Advisor, EU4BUSINESS – Innovative Tourism and Technology Development for Armenia (EU-ITTD),
• Anna Tantushyan, Catalyst Foundation, “Armenia Startup Academy” Program Director,
• Ani Torosyan, Programme Officer, National Erasmus+ Office in Armenia,
• Ani Hovhannisyan, Head of External Affairs and International Cooperation Department, Brusov State University; British Council Creative Spark Progrmme partner,
• Amalya Mkhitaryan, Manager of Armenian National Engineering Laboratories, National Polytechnic University of Armenia.

They shared the lessons learned, identified and analysed the barriers and opportunities for the development of entrepreneurial education in Armenia.

The second part of the event was devoted to keynote speeches on entrepreneurial education trends, benefits, challenges and was led online by Neil Marshall, Development Director, Change School and Mark Bailey, Associate Professor of Design Innovation, School of Design, Northumbria University.

The conference concluded with two group discussions on “Building the ecosystem for the development of entrepreneurial education in Armenia” and “Building the capacity of educational institutions.” The second group discussion was facilitated by Lana Karlova, Coordinator of the National Erasmus+ Office in Armenia. At the end of the event, the group members prepared and shared roadmaps of change for their institutions; compared them in terms of general common outcomes, common barriers, and the solutions that they can see.

Photo courtesy: British Council Armenia