Georgian Education Minister: Georgia joins small group of countries offering free education at every level

Georgian Education Minister Givi Mikanadze on Wednesday said Georgia would join the small group of countries providing free education at every level, following what he described as a historic decision by the ruling Georgian Dream party’s political council.

In his remarks, Mikanadze noted that preliminary data showed that most applicants had chosen state universities as their first preference, despite the fact that only 19 of the country’s 64 universities were state-run institutions.

“The political council of the ruling team has made a historic decision. As a result, Georgia is joining the small number of countries in the world where education is free at every level - kindergartens, schools, colleges, and now state universities. This means that if a person has the desire, a goal and the motivation, we will do everything possible to support them”, Mikanadze said.

“More than 79% of applicants selected a state university as their first choice, while just over 20% chose a private university. These figures already demonstrate young people's attitude toward this very important political decision”, he said.

Mikanadze stressed that state universities should primarily serve the interests of Georgian citizens.

“From the very beginning, we have said that Georgian citizens must be the priority for state universities. State higher education institutions are financed from the state budget, and therefore public funds should primarily be spent in the interests of our citizens”, he said.

He noted that, under the new policy, the number of foreign students admitted to state universities would be capped at 5% of the annual admission quota.

“We uphold the standards of the Bologna Process, but our main human, material and technical resources must first and foremost be used for the benefit of our own citizens”, the Minister added.

Mikanadze also highlighted the growing demand for vocational education, noting that more than 6,000 applicants had chosen vocational programmes during this year's Unified National Examinations.

He added that applicants who pass the minimum threshold in the national entrance exams but do not score enough points to enrol in a university would be automatically admitted, without additional examinations, to one of the vocational education institutions they selected.