Georgia: Rector of the Technical University of Georgia, academician David Gurgenidze and Deputy Minister of Culture and Sports of Georgia, General Director of National Agency for Protection of Cultural Heritage Nikoloz Aznaurashvili discussed the issues of expansion of cooperation between the university and the Agency. The Technical University of Georgia spreads information about this.
According to their report, at the working meeting held in STU, the parties discussed the issue of extension of the memorandum signed between the Technical University of Georgia and the National Agency for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in several directions, as well as – archaeology, architecture, mineral-geology, chemical technology, information and management systems of STU in the projects initiated by the Agency Students and scientific-academics of TLIS and international relations educational programs Opportunities to engage in circles actively.
Deputy Minister of Culture and Sports of Georgia, Director General of the National Agency for Protection of Cultural Heritage, Nikoloz Aznaurashvili, said that the Agency considers it objective to expand and deepen cooperation with the Technical University of Georgia to maximize the resources of the University, current or implemented Involve students of relevant university faculties in the projects in several directions, as well as – Researchers and professors.
Nikoloz Aznaurashvili said, “Our wish is to maximally use resources of the Technical University of Georgia and include them in specific projects, which requires a thorough review of the existing memorandum of cooperation and its modification. We plan to cooperate with the university in several major areas. First, the National Agency for Protection of Cultural Heritage is interested in attracting young archaeologists and actively engaging them in projects initiated by the Agency.”
“The second, which is also actual direction, is the maintenance of rock statues. With the help of the university, we think assembling teams of young and experienced researchers to ensure the smooth functioning of the meteorological station, seismic station, granary and monitoring systems will take care of the creation and processing of databases.” Nikoloz Aznaurashvili mentioned.
Nikoloz Aznaurashvili mentioned, “The third direction is to deal with specific critical areas and to design relevant projects, based on which rehabilitation works can be started. In this regard, it is necessary to complete the project group with specialists such as constructors, geologists, mining engineers, architects, chemists, etc. We will cooperate with the university in IT departments as well. The talk is about one of the Agency’s important bases – the GIS portal, which provides detailed information about our country’s cultural heritage.”
“We think students and professors of the University’s Informatics Faculty will be involved in managing GIS data. We believe that such cooperation and art of the young generation of professionals towards protecting cultural heritage will be bilaterally beneficial and, simultaneously, the most important national task. I thank the rector and professor-teachers for their support,” Nikoloz Aznaurashvili noted.
As the rector, academician Davit Gurgenidze, stated at the working meeting, the Technical University of Georgia expresses its readiness to deepen cooperation and actively participate in projects of the National Agency for Protection of Cultural Heritage, as well as to offer it the active use of intellectual resources of the university.
At the working meeting, They discussed all the possibilities related to the participation of researchers and students of our university in the restoration-conservation and rehabilitation of Georgian cultural heritage monuments or historical buildings, archaeological excavations, and scientific research work in this regard.
The university has expressed its readiness to cooperate with archaeology qualifications – the university’s archaeology department and its scientists have significant experience in leading archaeological expeditions.
Students involved in archaeology university groups in archaeological excavations can do all tasks at a professional level, such as surveying, retrieval-describing artefacts, cleaning, transferring them to storage and conserving them. At our Faculty of Architecture, Urbanism and Design, the areas of reconstruction and restoration are developed at a high level and with the involvement of students, we implement several projects.
In addition, masters of the Faculty of Architecture have taken a relevant course at the Polytechnic University of Milan. Students of our Faculty of Mining and Geology, led by experienced researchers, can conduct geological studies of any complexity, have practical experience in reinforcing cultural monuments in Uglitsikhe, Vardzia and Ushguli, learn about the construction materials of cultural heritage monuments and the composition of Dugabi. The University can offer experienced lithologists, petrologists, engineer-geologists, hydrologists, hydrogeologists, and miners to the Agency.
As for the Faculty of Information and Management Systems and its students, it will be exciting for them to participate in agency projects – from data analytics to the creation of intelligent monitoring systems. The same applies to chemical technology students and professors, especially since the faculty has developed high-level ceramics and material science using modern research methods.
According to STU, at the end of the working meeting, the parties agreed that the renewed memorandum of cooperation between the Technical University of Georgia and the National Agency for the Protection of Cultural Heritage will be signed shortly.
