Mikheil Chkhenkeli, the candidate running for the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia, addressed the deputies and spoke about the measures taken in the higher education in response to the challenges as caused by the pandemic.

According to Mikheil Chkhenkeli, in addition to the fact that higher education institutions have instantly switched to distance learning mode, curricula and assessment systems have also been modified according to the e-learning format.

To ensure the quality of e-learning, universities are guided by the recommendations developed by the Association of European Higher Education Quality Assurance Agencies (ENQA) and the National Center for Education Quality Enhancement.

Mikheil Chkhenkeli: “Student support programs are being actively implemented to increase access to higher education. Universities were advised to have a tuition fee exemption policy - tuition fees were either deferred or a flexible individual payment schedule was offered.

Owing to the initiative of the Prime Minister, students who were registered in the Unified Database of Socially Vulnerable Families with a score of 150,000 or less received Social Assistance to cover tuition fees for the fall semester of the 2020-2021 academic year. A total of 14,799 students received social assistance. These students will also be funded for tuition fees incurred during the spring semester of the 2019-2020 academic year.

Moreover, a training course titled "Covid-19" was developed, which aimed to train senior medical students. The trained students have already volunteered for Covid management process.”

Mikheil Chkhenkeli also noted that student support programs are being actively implemented to increase access to higher education. 3243 students from 16 higher education institutions will receive a Successful Student State scholarships in the first semester of the 2020-2021 school year. Dimitri Gulia and Kosta Khetagurov Scholarships will also be awarded to six students, who will benefit from these scholarships in the 2020-21 school year. Furthermore, within the the social program framework, 13 vulnerable categories of students were defined, including students with disabilities, students residing in large families, etc. and were funded with state education and master's degree grants. Additionally, during the 2020-2021 school year, there will be several funding efforts to further education students residing in villages adjacent to the demarcation line, as well as specially designated programs to support foreign nationals with compatriot status, etc.

In his speech, Mikheil Chkhenkeli underlined the fact that the National Center for Assessment and Examinations, together with the Ministry and other agencies, began emergency preparations for the 2020 exams from the very first day of the pandemic. As a result, the examinations were conducted in a highly safe, organized and coordinated manner.