On March 11-12, “A Framework for Effective Microcredential Design: Best Practices and Guidelines for Developing High-Quality Credentials” HERE regional seminar took place. The seminar was organised by the National Erasmus+ Office in Armenia in cooperation with Arevik Ohanyan, Higher Education Reform Expert (HERE), Strategic Project Manager of Eurasia International University, and the National Erasmus+ Office in Ukraine within the framework of Erasmus+ technical assistance missions.

The first day of the seminars hosted around 76 participants, and 68 participants on the second day, among them being policymakers, HEREs, faculty members and administrative staff, curriculum developers as well as representatives of International offices of higher education and research institutions. The moderator of the first day was Arevik Ohanyan.

The seminars launched with welcoming speeches made by Olena Kozievska (Head of the Secretariat of the Parliament’s Committee on Education, Science and Innovations, Higher Education Reform Expert in Ukraine), Ruben Topchyan (Director of the National Center for Professional Education Quality Assurance), Lana Karlova (Coordinator of the National Erasmus+ Office in Armenia) and Svitlana Shytikova (Project Coordinator of the National Erasmus+ Office in Ukraine).

The speaker of the seminars was Chiara Finocchietti, Director of CIMEA – NARIC Italia. During the first day of the seminars, she introduced the international perspectives, global trends and best practices in developing microcredentials. Afterwards, there was a round of discussions from HEREs and participants. Then, Chiara talked about the policy implications of developing microcredentials on the national level, existing regulations and quality assurance instruments. As a conclusion for the first day, participants and HEREs engaged in discussions and raised questions.

The second day of the seminar hosted 68 participants. The moderator of the second day was Yury Rashkevych, Erasmus + Higher Education Reform Expert (Ukraine), Member of the National Qualifications Agency, Professor of the Lviv Polytechnic National University. After reviewing the first day and addressing unanswered questions, Chiara Finocchietti introduced the processes, tools and best practices for developing microcredentials on the institutional level. Afterwards, she talked about the links between technology and developing microcredentials. The seminars were concluded with a round of discussions and reactions from HEREs and the participants of the seminar.

As a continuation of the seminars, on March 19, a closed discussion will be conducted between education policy makers in Armenia and Ukraine. They will discuss ways to localize micro-qualification best practices with keynote speaker-expert Chiara Finocchietti.

The live recordings, agenda, presentations and photos from the seminars are available below: