Georgia: Education Minister Mikheil Chkhenkeli meets Japanese Ambassador Imamura Akira

Tbilisi: Georgian Minister of Education and Science,Mikheil Chkhenkel held a working meeting with the Ambassador of Japan in Georgia,Imamura Akira and discussed issues of current and future cooperation with him in the field of education.

The minister thanked the Japanese ambassador for the long-term fruitful partnership and said that with the support of the Japanese government, a number of steps were taken in terms of the development of the education and science system in Georgia.

Imamura Akira introduced Mikheil Chkhenkel, the new Advisor on Early Age Child Development of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Masahira Kato, who has been regularly involved in the reform of early and preschool education system through a joint project between Georgia and JICA since 2022 The meeting was also attended by the Japanese Embassy Atache Suginaka Riose.

Mikheil Chkhenkel, in his conversation with the Ambassador of Japan,Imamura Akira also stressed the importance of Georgia’s Unified National Strategy for Education and Science (2022-2030), which takes into account the goals of sustainable development and promotes the consolidation of the results achieved within the framework of the ongoing education reform.

During the meeting, the minister informed Japanese guests about the major mega-project of the education system – Kutaisi International University, and during the conversation focused on its development prospects.

 According to the Minister, the author of the idea and concept of the university is Mr. Bidzina Ivanishvili. It was because of his and his family’s very important charity that the world wide academic and scientific research space was created in the country.

Mikheil Chkhenkel assessed that the high standards and quality of internationalization of the university are determined by an approach that incorporates academic programs in a particular field in collaboration with world-leading universities. 

The minister noted that the programs at the university at this stage are analogues of Munich Technical University. According to him, cooperation with world’s leading universities is actively continuing and new academic programs for all three levels of education are gradually being added in higher education institutions. 

According to Mikheil Chkhenkel, Kutaisi International University is ready to actively cooperate with leading Japanese universities in order to implement joint academic programs.

As the minister said, Kutaisi International University, which will begin operations in 2020, has a rapidly growing rating, indicating that its development is being carried out with the right strategy – based on the results of the 2022 Unified National Exams, based on the average competition score, Kutaisi international University is the first in the ranking in the country.

During the meeting Mikheil Chkhenkel also noted that with the funding of the Georgian Foundation, an Adron Therapy Center is being built on the basis of Kutaisi International University, where international scientific circles will be involved in the production of research in oncology and proton therapy. 

Ultramodern cyclotrons of the Adron Therapy Center for the scientific and research process have already been installed in the world-leading company of proton therapy equipment (IBA). 

It is noteworthy that one cyclotron will be devoted entirely for scientific research process in medicine and nuclear physics, while the other will be used for cancer treatment. The minister said that one cyclotron will be allocated for research has drawn particular interest from the international scientific community. 

The proof of this is that many well-known foreign scientists have already expressed their desire to participate in the research process with Georgian scientists. According to Mikheil Chkhenkel, it would be good if Georgian and Japanese scientists will implement joint scientific projects at the Adronic Therapy Center.