Noonik Darbinian, Assistant of YSU Faculty of Oriental Studies, Candidate of Philological Sciences, coordinator of the international educational program of Persian language teaching in the Chair of Iranian studies, during her business visit to Cambridge University, participated in a conference and made a number of agreements to establish new scientific and educational partnerships with other British and foreign universities.
History of partnerships between YSU and British universities: The cooperation between Yerevan State University and British universities started two years ago, when Noonik Darbinian participated in the 3rd International Conference on "Teaching Persian Language and Literature" organized by Cambridge University. The COVID-19 epidemic, due to which the conference was held online, did not prevent the establishment of new connections and partnership ties.
Mahbod Ghaffari, Head of the Department of Persian Language and Literature at Cambridge University, offered to cooperate with YSU within the framework of the "Teaching Persian Language and Culture" program, which is designed to strengthen the knowledge of Iranian studies and Persian language for foreign students. Due to active cooperation, students of Cambridge, Oxford and Edinburgh universities have already studied at YSU for three months in 2022, seven weeks and three months in 2023, and Mahbod Ghaffari gave lectures at YSU for Armenian and British students.
Participation in the conference: This year, Noonik Darbinian participated in the international conference held every two years, presenting the methodologies, challenges and difficulties of teaching Persian language to Armenian and British students at YSU.
Referring to the report presented during the conference, Noonik Darbinian emphasized that innovative methods, smart blackboards and other modern means are used to organize more effective lessons for both Armenian and British students.
"Persian is taught 7.5 hours a week at YSU, and 4-5 hours at British universities, therefore the language proficiency level of our students is higher. Besides, our students are more informed about Iran, since there are commonalities between Armenia and Iran in terms of culture as well as thinking, while British students have a better understanding of environmental issues, they freely express their opinions on gender issues and other topics, and also have good debating skills," emphasized N. Darbinian.
The organizers of the conference expressed their desire to organize the next conference in another university. Noonik Darbinian's proposal to hold the conference at YSU is currently under consideration.
Improvement of the "Learning Persian Language and Culture" program: During the business trip, the YSU lecturer met with Mahbod Ghaffari and Christine van Ruymbeke, Dean of the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge, and discussed the changes in the "Learning Persian Language and Culture" program and further opportunities for cooperation.
For example, taking into account the above-mentioned differences between Armenian and British students, it was decided to organize classes for British students separately at YSU for 4 days instead of 5 days a week, and on one day, British and Armenian students will participate in the class process together, which will provide the students with the opportunity to expand their horizons, learn from each other and strengthen inter-student ties.
From the next semester, two British students, in addition to the basic Persian language course, will participate in "Iranian Culture and Ethics", "Conversational Persian" and other courses taught in Persian with the master's program students of YSU Chair of Iranian Studies.
"British universities are interested in many courses organized not only by the Faculty of Oriental Studies, but also the Faculties of Russian Philology, International Relations and others, hence we will promote making partnerships between British universities and other YSU faculties as well," emphasized N. Darbinian.
Expansion of partnership ties with the University of Cambridge: "Taking into account certain criteria, YSU students, post-graduate students and young researchers will have the opportunity to make short-term (2 weeks) or long-term (maximum 2 months) visits to the University of Cambridge and participate in courses. All the libraries of Cambridge University will be available for them," said N. Darbinian. She added that YSU professors will also have the opportunity to teach at Cambridge University for a short period of time.
In the interview with us, the YSU lecturer emphasized that they found ways of cooperation in the direction of having co-supervised post-graduate works, as well as applying for a tripartite grant program with the participation of a third European country in the field of Persian Language and Literature.
Opportunities for partnerships with other universities: Discussions were also held with representatives of universities from other countries participating in the conference (USA, Netherlands, Serbia, Iran, etc.) aimed at expanding partnership ties and establishing new collaborations.
YSU lecturer particularly emphasized. "Teachers from American universities are also interested in the program "Teaching Persian Language and Culture" and are willing to send their students to our university. There was a proposal from Iranian universities to hold standardized Persian language exams at YSU, where students from different countries will come and take an exam to check their language proficiency level, etc."
Noonik Darbinian emphasized that the Chair of Iranian Studies of the YSU Faculty of Oriental Studies is open to new collaborations and is ready to establish strong partnership ties with universities of different countries, playing a key role in the internationalization process of YSU.
Lilit Mkrtchyan
