Tamar Sanikidze Gave a Speech at ‘Ambassadorial’
03.09.2015

Within the framework of the annual meeting of the heads of diplomatic representations of Georgia abroad - Ambassadorial Meeting – 2015, minister Tamar Sanikidze gave a speech about international cooperation of the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia.

Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia actively cooperates with various countries and international organizations. During recent years, important steps were taken by the Ministry in terms of integration in international scientific and educational areas.

During her speech at the Ambassadorial, Tamar Sanikidze spoke about some of the important programs, which are being processed successfully:

  • Under the compact of 140 million US dollars, second funding by US Millennium Challenge Corporation, through the cooperation with Millennium Challenge foundation, the Ministry carries out programs promoting Education quality improvements in the fields of Engineering, natural sciences and technology (STEM).
  • Within the framework of the project signed between Georgia and European Union, development of state agencies institutional capacities is being carried out in order to effectively coordinate and monitor the labor market and its qualification requirements. On this purpose, following activities are being carried out: Legislative changes; Modular programs; Colleges rehabilitation / equipment; Partnership support and others.
  • The Ministry implements MathGeAr project within the EU program - ‘’Tempus’’, which mainly aims to improve the quality of Science, technology, engineering and Mathematics. 17 public and 6 private educational institutes are involved in ‘Erasmus Mundus’ 18 projects, through which 571 students and institute staff mobility have been carried out.
  • Since 2015 EU Erasmus+ program has been launched.  Erasmus + student and staff exchange programs preliminary results have been published. In terms of a number of scholarship holders, Georgia ranks on place 7 out of 74 partner countries. 

350 students and 188 academic staff members will receive scholarships in Europe for short-term work/study. Georgian universities will host 53 European students and 93 professors.

Detailed information on participating universities and mobilities per university will be published later.

  • At present, 10 higher education establishments provide Bachelors’, Masters’, and Ph.D. programs, after the completion of which, dual academic degree will be issued in cooperation with the leading western universities, such as Jena, Potsdam, Paris 8, Grenoble, Bologna, Birmingham, Atlanta, Budapest, Tallinn Tech, Riga, Ariel and other universities.
  • Negotiations between Georgia and Euro Commission about becoming associate member The EU Framework Program for Research and Innovation ‘Horizon -2020’. The mentioned program will allow Georgian scientists according to the legislation incorporated legal entities to take part in the 2016 state budget-funded Joint Research Centre activities under the same conditions, as it is applied to physical and legal entities of EU member countries.
  • Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of the Ministry is actively involved in EU research and technology development 7th framework program and conducts joint competitions to support European and regional collaborative research projects. In 2015, funding of Jülich (Forschungszentrum Jülich) Joint Research Center contest winner scientists continues, 4 winner scientists of the 2014 year contest.
  • Appropriate website and necessary resources for Georgian as a foreign language has been created by the Ministry. On the web page Georgian language manuals and many other additional materials for foreign learners and teachers (methodology books) are placed. A number of webpage users grow significantly and intensive works go on.
  • Bilingual lexicography methodology manual has been created especially for the "Georgian as a foreign language teaching program", which provides for the creation of the history of the development of Georgian-European bilingual lexicography. This year, materials for the history of Georgian-English bilingual lexicography have been searched in the Bodleian Library of Oxford. The collected materials are in the phase of processing and digital transferring. As a result, a manual of the history of Georgian-English bilingual lexicology will be created.
  • Through the support of the Ministry of Education and Science, higher education institutions accredited in Georgia, will cooperate with many educational institutes in the world.

This is a part of the projects, about which the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia spoke in her report.