Partnership relations between YSU and University of Cambridge strengthen

- Mr. Ghaffari, how did the cooperation with YSU begin? 

- I met Noonik Darbinian, Assistant at the Chair of Iranian Studies of Yerevan State University, Candidate of Philological Sciences, Coordinator of Persian Language Year Abroad Program in the Chair of Iranian Studies, in the framework of the 3rd international online conference "Teaching Persian Language and Persian Literature" organized by the University of Cambridge in December 2021. After the conference, in my virtual meetings with N. Darbinian, I got to know more about the Chair of Iranian Studies at Yerevan State University. Then we had several meetings with Professor Vardyan Voskanyan, Candidate of Philological Sciences, Head of the Chair of Iranian Studies at the Faculty of Oriental Studies, Professor Alexander Markarov, Head of International Cooperation Department, and Mikayel Hovhannisyan, Vice-Rector for Development and Innovation at YSU. We purposed to cooperate with YSU as part of "Persian Language Teaching" program which was designed for foreign students to enrich their knowledge of Iranian studies and Persian Language. We asked them to host our students at YSU to study for 3 months. The first course started with 4 students in September 2022.

- How do you assess the results of cooperation?

- You can see from the timeline that in less than 9 months this cooperation came into reality. In my opinion, it is a record to start such collaboration from scratch which needed different people from the University of Cambridge and YSU to get involved in course development, enrolment and registration, and admin work.

Our initial feedback from students when they started the course and also when they finished the program was very positive. They liked not only the course, contents and teaching style at YSU, but also they informed us about the professionalism, kindness and support they received from YSU academic and administrative staff. When students came back to continue their education at Cambridge, we were satisfied with their progress.

- How important is the cooperation with YSU?

- YSU is the biggest and oldest university in Armenia with many years of experience teaching Persian. The knowledgeable, experienced scholars and professors of Persian at YSU make it an important academic institution for us. Furthermore, when I visited the Chair of Iranian Studies at YSU, I felt I was almost in Iran as everybody could speak Persian.

It is crucial and mutually important for our cooperation to conduct the Persian language teaching course abroad, particularly at YSU, as part of the program.

I would like to mention that University of Edinburgh, University of Oxford and SOAS University of London, being interested in the "Persian Year Abroad" program, expressed their desire for their students to join these Persian language teaching courses at YSU. In the last 2 years, these universities followed our advice and sent their student to Armenia.

Finally, because Armenia is a neighbour of Iran with many Iranians living and working in Yerevan or visiting Armenia as tourists, there is an advantage for our students to study in Armenia and get the opportunity to speak to Persian speakers.

- What methods are applied at the University of Cambridge for teaching Persian?

- At the University of Cambridge, we combine communicative approach with content-focused, student-centered, technology-based methods. All four skills are important to us with many authentic listening and reading materials on one hand, and a personalized approach on productive skills of speaking and writing on the other hand.

- What are the perspectives of continuous cooperation with YSU?

- We will continue sending our students to YSU as part of "Persian Year Abroad" program. I informed my colleagues in Russian studies at the University of Cambridge about the high-quality education at YSU and they have decided to consider YSU as Year Abroad destination for Russian language. I was in touch with YSU International Cooperation Department and proposed them to organize short Persian summer courses. The first course was organized in 2023 with the participation of one of our students, and I am sure that this initiative will continue.

As a member of the Department of Middle Eastern Studies, I informed my colleagues about the collaboration opportunities with the Faculty of Oriental Studies at YSU. For this purpose, one of our Professors in Arabic Studies and Anthropology visited YSU and is doing a joint research. Also, YSU researchers and professors have been attending Persian conferences in Cambridge.

I believe there is a lot of potential for cooperation in the field of Iranian studies and Middle Eastern studies between the two universities which can be implemented both in educational courses and research activities.

- We know that YSU students, postgraduate students and young researchers will have the opportunity to visit Cambridge University and participate in courses in the future. Will you present details on this program? What opportunities will be offered to them?

- We would love young YSU researchers and academic staff, with fluent spoken English skills, to present their research findings in our conferences or lecture series related to Middle Eastern Studies. They can also apply to our department as visiting scholars in order to use our library and resources for their research.

Also, we are open to YSU small groups of postgraduate students to come to audit our classes for a short time, but this needs to be organized in advance. It would be good to organize such a visit when our Cambridge students are back from Armenia and can welcome their student friends from YSU.

It might also be possible for our academic staff to be part of YSU doctoral dissertation panels as examiners or advisors. This can be a great mutual practice so that our postgraduate students, researchers and academic staff visit YSU. The University usually charges fees for visiting academics or students, but given the collaboration with YSU, the faculty hopes to waive these fees.

- When are you planning to visit Armenia, in particular, Yerevan State University?

- My first visit to Armenia was in September 2023 and it was a really unforgettable one. I am always happy to visit Yerevan State University and meet my kind welcoming distinguished colleagues. I am planning to visit YSU in April or September again.