On May 19, 2017, at the Radisson Blu Iveria hotel, the Agriculture Policy Research Center (APRC) of the ISET Policy Institute (ISET-PI) presented two reports regarding “The Georgian Tea Value Chain Study” and “The Georgian Trout Value Chain Study” value chain analyses.

ISET second-year students continued their series of policy seminars, this time focusing on the Georgian tourism sector. Shako Gobronidze, Diana Nersisyan, Robizon Razamadze, and Revaz Surguladze presented on the topic of seasonality, which both pose various challenges and grants opportunities for the Georgian tourism sector.

Given Georgia’s dysfunctional educational sector, it is impressive how many Georgians excel intellectually. For example, ISET regularly sends some of its graduates to the best Ph.D. programs in the world, proving that many Georgians succeed in realizing their intellectual potentials despite unfavorable conditions. At the same time, we notice that a considerable share of students who get enrolled at ISET are not well-endowed with essential knowledge and competencies, lacking, for example, presentation skills, writing proficiency, and resourcefulness in discussion and argumentation.

Nobel-winning economist James Heckman proclaimed that “the data speak for itself” after he carried out an experiment known as the 'Perry pre-School Project' and discovered that investing in high-quality preschool education brings returns of around 14 percent – a rate of return that is much higher than standard returns on stock market equity (7.2 percent).

ISET’s Khachapuri Index kept declining in April, which is in line with seasonal trends. The average cost of cooking one standard Imeretian khachapuri currently stands at 3.32 GEL, which is 2.5% lower month-on-month (compared to March 2017), and 4.9% above year-on-year (compared to April 2016).