GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany -- A fresh focus on teaching students anchored work done at the 6th annual Conference of the Education Specialists of the Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes June 12-15 in Yerevan, Armenia.

The conference titled “New Students, New Methods and New Assessments.” The workshop participants represented nine nations; the Defense Educators Team faculty represented six nations, and the DEEP experts team represented seven nations. With overlap of four countries -- Canada, Romania, Ukraine and the United States) -- the total nations involved numbered 18. Events were conducted in the headquarters of the Armenian Ministry of Defense.

Participants discussed approaches to defense/military education and training.

In addition to being one of the organizations which participates in the consortium, the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies also hosts the consortium operations staff, and the consortium's administrative center.

John Kane, international program manager for the PfP Consortium, took part in the event. “The conference was particularly successful thanks to the Armenian MOD's flexibility in hosting both the long-planned educator's workshop and also a shorter-notice initiative to concurrently involve a Defense Education Enhancement Program experts team,” Kane said. “This greatly increased the impact and effectiveness of the event due to the synergies created between the two groups.

Kane said the personal involvement of First Deputy Minister of Defense Davit Tonoyan and Deputy Director Ara Mesrobyan of the ministry’s defense policy department was also key to the success of the event.

Countries represented were Armenia, Albania, Belarus, Canada, Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mauritania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Ukraine, and the United States. The consortium is a voluntary association of institutes of higher learning in defense and security affairs that is supported by the Austria, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, the United States and NATO. The Consortium seeks to support the security priorities of its stakeholders. The mission of consortium is to strengthen defense and military education through enhanced national and institutional cooperation in order to promote defense institution building through defense education enhancement; and sustain regional stability through multinational education and research.