Some Higher Education Establishments Have Licenses Revoked

Several Georgian higher educational institutions were revoked authorization to operate on Wednesday. According to the statement released by the Georgian National Centre for Educational Quality Enhancement, Tbilisi Davit Aghmashenebeli Teaching University (TDASU), Caucasus Academic Center and Georgian Highway-Road College together with some other universities didn’t satisfy the international standards of authorization.

Authorization which is an essential mechanism for ensuring the relevance between the internal educational process and state standards is oriented towards educational programs, human and material resources. But research carried out by independent analysts had proved that the above mentioned universities couldn’t satisfy any of the principles defined by the Ministry of Education and Science (MES).

But the students of Tbilisi Davit Aghmashenebeli Teaching University complained about the abolition of the educational process at their university. Explaining that they had been informed of the news from the MES the night before the official announcement, the students and their parents of TDASU worried about the lack of time for registration wondering how the 5,000 students would continue studying in future.

Interfarm +, European International University, Davit Guramishvil International University Iberia and Zugdidi University also did not meet the three main demands of the Georgian educational system. The MES promised protection of rights of all the university entrants which face the abovementioned difficulties. According to the statement released by the MES, those enrollees who had been accepted at those institutions would study at other authorized universities – thus the transfer process would last until all the students are enrolled at their desired places.

The TDASU university staff accused the Georgian National Centre for Educational Quality Enhancement of illegal activities against the university. The Deputy Head of the University Nodar Koberidze emphasized the success of his university for the last 20 years. Expressing his worries about the misunderstanding Koberidze said they would still apply for authorization and restore their prestige. But Petre Tsurtsumia the First Deputy Chairman of the Georgian National Centre for Educational Quality Enhancement explained that “the state doesn’t need higher educational institutions which can’t offer good standards to its students”.