A conference dedicated to the dissemination of the EU international projects – ASSET, CURE, DOIT, DARE, ABS – was held in Sokhumi State University on May 9, 2019. The organizers of the conference were: Doctor Rhonda Sofer,  Coordinator of the projects of  EU programs Tempus and Erasmus+ and Director of International Center for Multicultural Education at Gordon College of Education, Lika Ghlonti, Head of National Office of Erasmus+ in Georgia, Zurab Khonelidze, Rector of Sokhumi State University and Lia Akhalaidze and Tamar Shinjiashvili, ASSET coordinator and manager at SSU. The conference was specially held on theindependenceday of Israel's State.

The conference was opened by Professor Zurab Khonelidze, Rector of Sokhumi State University with the national anthems of  Israel and Georgia and he spoke about the importance and role of EU projects in the development of universities, emphasized successful work of Professor LikaGhlonti, Head of National Office of Erasmus+ in Georgia, and thanked her and wished her further success.The Rector talked about the 26century history of totally unique life of living together of Georgian and Jewish people and noted that Georgian people do not have closer friends and biggersupporters than Georgian Jews. Accordingly, the involvement of Israeli higher education institutions in EU projects is especially exciting for us - noted Zurab Khonelidze.

The participants of the conference were greeted by Silva Osipashvili, Israeli Embassy Representative;Lika Ghlonti, Head of Georgian National Office of Erasmus+ in Georgia; Honorary Guest from Israel; Natalia Ingorokva, Editor-in-Chief of journal "Teacher", the only education journal being published in Georgia andscientific almanac "Educational Science"; Ekaterine Dgebuadze, Head of Inclusive Education Division of the Ministry of Education and Science;Lia Akhaladze, Dean of the Faculty of Education of SSU;Romeo Galdava, Head of the Quality Assurance Service of SSU.After the welcome speeches, students performed Jewish and Georgian dances in honor of the guests of the conference.

At the plenary session Rhonda Sofer (GACE) and Bela Petriashvili (TSU) presented a report about the impact of Georgia-Israeli joint European programs on Georgian universities and their development. Reports of LioraNutov, SofikoLobjanidze, EkaTkavashvili, MarikaKirvalidze and Hadas Huberwere dedicated to the dissemination and research of the current project ASSET at the plenary session.

The sectional works of the conference dealt with Modern Methods of Assessment, Multicultural Education, Civic Education, Child Rights, Culture and Identity, Universal Design of Teaching - Inclusive Education and Modern Paradigms of Education.One of these sections - Modern Methods of Assessment - wasentirely dedicated to the theme of the ASSET project. Out of 12, all the reports were presented. Tamar Javakhishvili, Nino Tsulaia, Mariam Gognelashvili, Lia Akhaladze, Nino Chikovani, Mari Kalabegashvili, Lili Bazerashvili, ElzaGarakanidze, Levan Kvaratskhelia, BrolisaTsulaia, Giorgi Loria participated in the work of the ASSET section.Speakers’ topics covered such important issues as: The use of reflective diary in the University Education, XXI century skills assessment challenges open badges, Humanistic expertiseof education - the new assessment system, Implementing of formative assessment methods in the university programs and its challenges, etc.100 speakers were involved in the conference with 78 reports, 72 reports were presentedout of it and two presentations were sent specially to the conference.

Participants of the conference were from Gordon Academic College of Israel, Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, Erasmus+ National Office of Georgia, three NGOs and journals "Teacher" and "Education Science".Also leading educational institutions of Georgia: Ilia State University, IvaneJavakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Sukhumi State University, AkakiTsereteliKutaisi State University, Shota RustaveliBatumi State University, Samtskhe-Javakheti State University, IakobGogebashvili Telavi State University, Shota Meskhia Zugdidi State University, Saint Queen Tamar University, European University, Georgian-American University.

Involvement of Schools was alsovery interesting: Public Schools of Tbilisi N26, N88 and N157, as well as schools from regions: public schoolof Samtredia municipal, N2 public schoolof Marneuli village Shulaveri, N2 public school of Abkhazia and Italian school `Tsiskari`. Discussions were held after the conference and at the end the rapporteurs were given special certificates. The conference was covered by several media outlets: television, newspapers and e-portals.

A significant part of the reports will be published by the SSU funding.

Conference program