Student funding explained

On May 3 First Deputy Minister of Education and Science Akaki Seperteladze and Director of the National Examinations Centre Maia Miminoshvili held a briefing on the priorities and principles of student funding.

"Registration for Graduate Examinations is taking place and will finish on May 10. Last year MA programmes were only available in State institutions, but this year all the accredited institutions, including private institutions, will offer them,” Seperteladze stated.

Passing the Graduate Record Exams is compulsory for all those who want to join MA programmes in accredited higher education institutions. You can apply to take them at any accredited higher education institution.

The goal of holding these exams is to help higher education institutions select candidates by classifying students according to their abilities and potential, create a transparent and objective process of enrolling and exclude those candidates who do not meet the necessary requirements for this degree. Candidates will also take subject specific exams and the results of these and the Graduate Record Examinations, taken together, will be taken into account during the enrolment process.

“MA programme funding differs from Bachelor's programme funding. In 2009 the Government decided to finance MA programmes on the basis of the results of Graduate Record Examinations. It has already defined the priority fields to be financed. 11 have been highlighted (business and economics, humanities, social, law, engineering, education and pedagogic, natural sciences, agrarian, mathematics and IT, art and healthcare). 10 percent of the sum allocated for MA programmes will be distributed on the basis the results of the Graduate Record Examinations, the next 40 percent among the individual subjects and the remaining 50 percent on priority fields," Miminoshvili stated at the briefing.