On October 29 and 30, 2021, Dr. Anatoly Oleksiyenko, CERC’s Honorary Director and Dr. Nutsa Kobakhidze, CERC’s Management Committee member, presented respectively at the virtual conference organized by East European University & Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University。

The conference explored the challenges of institutional autonomy and academic freedom in Georgian higher education which directly bear on social, cultural, economic and political developments of the country. The conference addressed the following questions:

• What should be the purpose of higher education in Georgia?
• What are strengths and weaknesses of higher education in contemporary Georgia?
• What are the solutions to the existing problems?
• How higher education can promote the social, cultural, economic and political development of the country?
• What is the economic environment within which the higher education system in Georgia functions and what are main challenges in this regard?
• How autonomous are higher education institutions in Georgia?
• What is the degree of academic freedom in higher education institutions in Georgia?