The State Academy of Fine Arts of Armenia (SAFAA) held the first awareness day on 26th of September 2024 with the aim to inform the faculty and the administrative staff on DeSIRe goals, objectives and key results.

NAD Details: The event agenda focused on the following topics:

• Brief presentation of the project goals, objectives, expected outcomes and major results.
• Discussions on prospects of developing soft skills at SAFAA, as well as development of online courses including challenges and issues.

Results of the event: In total 21 staff members participated in the event. The project working team presented the main goals and objectives highlighting SAFAA’s role and contribution to the achievement of the project outcomes and outputs. The speakers emphasized the importance of embedding soft skills courses in the curricula and developing MOOCs on the selected topics. Participants discussed the potential of both online and offline courses on soft skills stressing their importance in supporting students to develop those essential competences. Several challenges were also raised during the discussions.

Dissemination: Information about the event was widely disseminated via SAFAA official social media platforms, and the DeSIRe project’s social media pages.