
Kobakhidze Announces State Commission to Reform Universities
On January 20, GD Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced the establishment of a new state commission on university reform which he said would transform Georgia’s higher education within four years. He appointed Levan Izoria, former minister of Defence of Georgia and a former Ambassador to Germany, as his advisor on education and science.
“We have a very significant and ambitious task in the direction of university reform,” Kobakhidze stated at the government’s session, noting that the current quality of higher education “is not satisfactory.” He emphasized that the commission will work to “qualitatively transform the university and higher education system” over the next four years. “We must fully utilize all resources to achieve a fundamentally renewed system,” he added. However, Kobakhidze did not provide specific details on how the commission will operate or what precise steps will be taken to achieve his stated goals.
According to Kobakhidze, he will serve as the chairman of the commission, Education Minister Aleksandre Tsuladze will serve as deputy chair, while Prime Minister’s advisor on education and science Levan Izoria will act as secretary of the commission.
Izoria previously served as Georgia’s Minister of Defense (2016-2019) and in 2020 was appointed Georgia’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Federal Republic of Germany.
The push for reform can be seen through the prism of the youth’s acute disapproval of the government’s policies and the students’ protests against repression. Since the Foreign Agents Law was first tabled in Parliament, students have been particularly active in protesting against the law and the GD’s policies.
The university faculties often supported them and criticized the GD government. The Ilia State University, many of whose professors openly criticized the government, and refused to sign the statement denouncing the students’ academic boycott during the protests against the Foreign Agents Law reported on September 27, 2024 that although it had passed with high marks all the standards required for accreditation according to the assessment of the accreditation expert group, the Accreditation Council decided to change the experts’ high assessments without justification and explanation and to grant the university accreditation with the condition of monitoring it after one year.
In another episode, Soso Berikashvili, Dean of the School of Economics of the Caucasus University (CU), wrote on Facebook on May 14, 2024 that he was forced out of the university for criticizing the ruling Georgian Dream founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili over the controversial “offshore” law, which allows the shareholders of offshore companies to repatriate assets tax-free.
Georgian Dream has often criticized the education system reform performed under the previous, UNM administration. Approximately a year ago, Minister of Education of Georgia Giorgi Amilakhvari, presented the reforms in the general education system and said that the government wants to bring up “genuine Georgians” instead of creating “new types of citizens”.
The then-PM Irakli Garibashvili, said that the education reforms of 2004 carried out under the United National Movement (UNM) party were aimed at “changing our national identity, our DNA, our Georgianness”. He accused the UNM government of “destroying the [education] system” and trying to “mold a new Georgian”. According to the Prime Minister, the 2004 reforms were “an experiment on our youth.”
Also Read:
- 08/01/2025 – GD Rails Against ‘Deep State’, ‘Global War Party’, Doubles Down on Conspirationism
- 06/12/2024 – Suspension from EQAR and ENQA Threatens Georgia’s Higher Education Reputation, Experts Warn
- 23/12/2024 – Irakli Kobakhidze Meets Business Leaders Amid Political Crisis in Georgia
- 03/12/2024 – Kobakhidze on Protests, “Failed Maidan” and Hopes for “Complete Reset” with US
- 02/12/2024 – Kobakhidze Alludes to Purges, Says Civil Service is “Self-Cleansing”
- 27/09/2024 – Ilia State University Raises Alarm About Accreditation Council Granting it “Conditional Accreditation”
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