Brussels: Giorgi Amilakhvari, The Minister of Education and Science of Georgia visited Brussels as part of his official visit to Belgium. He held a meeting with the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Iliana Ivanova, in Brussels.
During the meeting, Giorgi Amilakhvari personally thanked the European Commissioner for the positive recommendation on granting Georgia the candidate status.
He also expressed hope that such support from the European leaders and significant steps taken will be crowned by the granting of full-fledged membership to Georgia.
Education Minister Giorgi Amilakhvari further drew attention to the significance of education and science promotion by the European Union and explained to the participants the unique project of the European Union, “School of Europe – Tbilisi”.
Additionally, Minster said that the implementation of the School of Europe idea, which envisages the establishment of an educational institution corresponding to international standards in Georgia, is a vital and significant step forward on the way to European Integration.
The construction of the school is actively underway, and it will begin to work in the next academic year.
The minister shared the important reforms that are taking place in the system of education and science. He also highlighted the unprecedented growth of the budget allocated to the education sector, the renewal of the educational infrastructure in Georgia, the increase of teachers’ salaries, the support for raising the qualifications of Georgian teachers, the new vision of the development and improvement of vocational education and the promotion of the active involvement of the private sector in the education system, the doubling of the number of scholars and the amount of state scholarships
Internationalisation of the Georgian education sector is one of the main priorities of the Education Ministry,Minster Added.
The attendees of the meeting discussed the availability of all components of the Erasmus + program for Georgia as a potential candidate country and studied future plans in this direction.
The Minister reaffirms to the European Commissioner his full readiness to undertake the necessary commitment for the implementation of all components of the Erasmus+ program in Georgia.
At the end of the meeting, the parties assessed the European Commission’s recommendation on granting Georgia the candidate status and noted its historical importance.
On other hand European Commissioner Iliana Ivanova thanked the Minister for close cooperation and promised her support in the implementation of joint educational projects. She appreciated the steps taken by the Minister of Education and the reforms that are taking place at all levels of the education system.
