The Minister Education and Science of Georgia, Giorgi Amilakhvari, is currently on an official visit to Brussels. He participated as a keynote speaker at the 6th European Education Summit, centred around the theme "European Education Space - Reality for Everyone."
The summit commenced with an opening address by Iliana Ivanova, the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education, and Youth. Notably, Moldova's Minister of Education and Research, Dan Perchun, and Ukraine's First Deputy Minister of Education and Science, Yevhen Kudryavets, also addressed the attendees.
In his speech, Minister Amilakhvari shed light on the educational challenges faced by Eastern Partnership countries, emphasizing the critical role of the European Union in fostering education and science to surmount these obstacles.
He detailed Georgia's ongoing educational reforms, asserting that these changes aim to align the country's education and science systems more closely with EU standards. Amilakhvari highlighted several reform areas: a significant increase in the education budget, modernization of educational infrastructure, higher teacher salaries, enhanced teacher training programs, a new approach to vocational education including greater private sector participation, a doubling of scholarship numbers and amounts, and initiatives in distance learning.
Furthermore, Minister Amilakhvari underscored the ministry's focus on the internationalization of higher education, noting ongoing collaborations with foreign universities to develop joint double degree programs.
Moreover, the minister of Education and Science of Georgia also announced that starting next year, the Ministry will establish a dedicated youth department. The Minister expressed a strong commitment to deepen cooperation with the European Union and to engage in joint ventures in this context.
Addressing Georgia's potential candidacy, the minister touched upon the accessibility of the Erasmus+ program components for the country. He reaffirmed Georgia's dedication to fully implementing the Erasmus+ program, highlighting that participation in Erasmus+ offers Georgian students unique opportunities to partake in various educational and cultural exchanges alongside their European counterparts.
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