NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ARCHITECTURE AND CONSTRUCTION OF ARMENIA

The Deputy Dean for Research at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Liège, Mrs. Claudine Houbart and Associate Professor at the Chair of Art, Archaeology and Heritage of the same Faculty of the same University, Mr. Pierre Hallot conducted a training-seminar on “The Challenges of Architectural Education in the Post-Coronavirus Context” at the National University of Architecture and Construction of Armenia.

The three-day training-seminar was organized for the purpose of implementing the project “Prevent, Mitigate, and Manage Crisis Consequences at NUACA” within the framework of “University Governance and Digital Transformation 2021” regional project announced by the Regional Directorate of the Francophone University Agency in Central and Eastern Europe and the Francophone Institute for University Governance (IFGU).

On the first day of the meetings, the representatives of the academic and administrative staff presented the experience of NUACA in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the main obstacles to the implementation of distance education, initial difficulties, achievements and ways to overcome them.

On the second day, the speakers presented the effects of different stages of the crisis caused by the pandemic on the teaching process, while at the same time giving a brief overview of the multicultural city of Liège, which has both old and modern architectural features.

The speakers comprehensively presented the achievements of the University of Liège in the field of introduction of digital teaching methods, the key approach was that modern digital teaching methods are not meant for replacing the traditional teaching methods but complementing them. During the training-seminar, several widely used online teaching methods and platforms that can be used in architectural education were introduced and put into practice.

The third day of the training-seminar was held in a format of a round table, the participants summarized the activities of the training-seminar with active discussions, mentioned that the knowledge gained in the digital field was effective and expressed a desire to participate in such events.

NUACA Rector Yeghiazar Vardanyan, highly appreciating the work done, mentioned that based on the feedback received from the participants we can claim that the event was a success. He assured that we can work out new ways of cooperation with the University of Liège, taking into account the experience of active and effective cooperation of NUACA with French universities and organizations. The Rector thanked the Francophone University Agency, particularly Ruzanna Ghaltaghchyan, the responsible of the Francophone Digital Center of Yerevan, and attached importance to her role in carrying out this training-seminar within the framework of the “University Governance and Digital Transformation 2021” regional project.

Rector Y. Vardanyan handed over letters of acknowledgement to Mrs. Claudine Houbart and Mr. Pierre Hallot for conducting the training-seminar on “The Challenges of Architectural Education in the Post-Coronavirus Context”. 

The Belgian specialists, in their turn, thanked NUACA for the opportunity provided, which allowed them to critically and with an external view assess the effectiveness of the experience gained in the digital field by the University of Liège after the pandemic, and it was a pleasure to hear about the issues raised by your specialists.

The participants of the program received certificates of participation from the  National University of Architecture and Construction of Armenia, the University of Liège and the Francophone Digital Center of Yerevan.