BOOST/Boosting Armenian Universities Internationalization Strategy & Marketing/ is a three-year national project under the priority of Governance Reform EACEA N 35/2012, 6th call and Structural measures action.The wider objective of the Project is to foster and promote further internationalization of Armenian Higher Education through development of national and institutional policy framework and tools.The specific objectives of the project are:• Development of national policy framework and tools for facilitating internationalization practices in Armenian HE.• Creation of a National Platform and online tools for mapping and benchmarking internationalization processes in Higher Education.• Build capacities of ICO staff of HEIs, MoES and social partners on strategic management, marketing and cultural challenges as well as implementation of credit mobility, ensuring holistic approach to internationalization management issues.• Create or enhance ICO resources and service-oriented centers at the Armenian HEIs, including development of strategic &marketing plans and tools.The objectives are realized through well planned activities at institutional, regional and national levels including workshops and trainings on strategic planning, management of international relations and structural improvements at partner institutions. The results of the national project are broadly disseminated among other higher educational institutions. The European partners from Spain, Sweden, Portugal and Estonia has brought in to the project the richness of their strong traditions in strategizing, marketing and enhancing international relations.

"<< Background >>1/ The awareness of the inequalities Women/Men (F/M) that is currently underway, places us in a pivotal period in history, leading to a societal change, the disruption of pre-established benchmarks, major challenges, made possible by the activism of different social movements in favor of women. In March 2019, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted recommendation CM/Rec(2019)1, on preventing and combating sexism. The recommendation emphasizes that: ""sexism is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between women and men, which leads to discrimination and prevents the full advancement of women in society. Sexism is manifest in many aspects of cultural life, especially through the pervasiveness of gender stereotypes, particularly music (...) Art and culture are essential shapers of attitudes and gender roles and it is therefore crucial to address sexism in these areas."" Many studies conducted have established the place of women in the music sector and point to these inequalities: discrimination in the hiring process, under-representation in leadership positions in Institutions and Conservatories, gender stereotypes of instruments and professional paths and educational guidance, invisibility of women composers, conductors ... Our project aims to raise awareness of gender equality within Musical Education Institutions, of different typologies (Academies, Universities, Conservatories, Training Centers) by making active staff, teachers and learners. We want to build tools, a modus operandi, which will make it possible to initiate long-term awareness-raising and inclusion initiatives.2/ The COVID-19 crisis has had a particularly strong impact on the education and music sector. The educational and creative work - which has a transnational dimension - have been put on hold. Because it was necessary to be physically distanced, the educational sector was put in default, faced with the challenge of pedagogical continuity. Music education had to be interrupted due to teaching staff’s lack of resources or knowledge in using existing digital tools. Collective and transnational musical practice must be reinvented in order to continue to promote encounters, social ties and professionalization. Thanks to cutting-edge technology (remote audio and video connection at very low latency), our cooperation will keep the link and will work for the renewal of music education in Europe. Our educational path, like a musical bounce, will enable music teachers and learners to think about the evolution of the practice of music education in an eco-responsible approach and within a digital revolution already underway. Through innovative cooperation practices, MUSICAL BOUNCE BACK - Promoting the Role of Women in Music and Connecting for a new Pedagogy - will help to provide solutions and promote Gender Equality within the European Music Education sector.<< Objectives >>1 - Strengthen collaboration between organizations in the fields of music education, educational engineering, research, innovation and musical creation on a European scale. Our cooperation brings together 6 organizations actively involved in these various fields: The organization of European programs and cultural relations (Limassol - CYP), PIANOANDCO (Marseille - FR), The Laboratory of acoustics and music technology LabMAT of the National and Kapodistrian University (Athens - GR), Casa do Professor (Braga, POR), The State Conservatory (Yerevan - ARM).2 - Act to improve the visibility of women in music and propose new methods of raising staff, teachers and music learners’ awareness in order to contribute to a more egalitarian society.Our project and its results will promote gender equality in the music sector with a wide educational and inclusive scope.3 - Experiment with collective musical practice remotely and explore its potential in order to ascertain its relevance and understand its ecological impacts.4 - Strengthen the creative potential of teaching staff and music learners and enable them to become active citizens as well as to acquire the key skills of the 21st century.<< Implementation >>Through a 29-month educational program, participants will alternate regular face-to-face and online meetings and workshops.Face-to-face:Four transnational meetings distributed over the duration of the project will ensure the construction of our program and will be essential meeting points for the development and solidity of our cooperation.Four one-week transnational workshops will bring together a community of over 40 music teachers, learners, composers and resource persons on gender equality issues. Alternatively, they will include work of reflection on this subject and instrumental practice of the repertoires of female composers. Four dissemination events will punctuate the educational path: feedback events offering the public release of the awareness concert, professional meetings, projections of documentary video clips, as well as an international conference, addressed not only to professionals but also to the general public, reinforcing and expanding the citizen engagement of MUSICAL BOUNCE BACK. Online:The health crisis has revealed the fragility of the continuity and regularity of educational work. To overcome this difficulty, the LoLa system is proving to be an essential tool, particularly in times of pandemic, and an ecological solution, to maintain the educational link between different partners. The LoLa system (LowLatency) is a high quality, low latency audio/video transmission system originally designed for music education and instrumental practice. The points of installation of this system on a European scale are still too rare while the possibilities offered by this technology re-open many scenarios for musical education institutions. Beyond the educational link provided by this innovative tool, it will also be a way for the MBB project to be as close as possible to the issue of Equality through regular meetings scheduled between the participants, composers and speakers.All of the collaborative working and piloting time that will mark our course will use Collective Intelligence methods and tools, making it possible to contribute to the educational and personal enrichment of all the participants.<< Results >>MUSICAL BOUNCE BACK will produce a PEDAGOGICAL KIT intended for musical education institutions comprising 4 components:> R1: A Modus operandi bringing together pedagogical methods and awareness tools on gender equality for teachers, learners and staff of musical education institutions as well as the creation of a digital badge ""Equality F/M” to validate this course on a smartphone application.> R2: An awareness concert and different related resources guaranteeing the resumption of the format: scores of musical works created by European female composers, stage and scenic directions, visual documentation and complete video recording.> R3: Documentary video clips made up of testimonies, portraits of 3 generations of musicians around questions about the place of women in music. How do we build ourselves with or without models?> R4: Feedback on the use of the LoLa system> intended for music teachers and future user organizations, integrating specific research on the carbon impact of this device.Beyond the tangible deliverables made, MUSICAL BOUNCE BACK will offer an experience of collaboration between operators from different sectors in different countries of Europe, and will induce new ways of acting and awareness among participants. We will carry out impact measurement work in order to make visible the transformations at work among the participants.MUSICAL BOUNCE BACK will actively participate in raising awareness of gender equality within the European Musical Education sector by developing resilient, innovative and eco-responsible solutions."