With EU financial and technical assistance, as well as training and education on cooperation and agribusiness, small farmers in Georgia are benefitting from economies of scale, cutting their production costs and increasing efficiency.

On 30 November 2017, the ISET Policy Institute hosted a High-Level Education Action Event which was the third in a series of education policy dialogues focused on general education. This time, the event was held in partnership with UNICEF and the World Bank, as well as with key SDG 4 stakeholders to drive a new push for inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all.

A pleasant surprise awaited me on my first day as a student of Tbilisi State University’s Business and Economics Faculty. Thanks to my performance on the national admission exam, I was inducted into the so-called “Elite Group,” piloted by TSU in an effort to attract Georgia’s best and brightest. There were 50 of us in the group, mostly from working class families, and none felt like they belonged to any kind of “elite.”

On November 21, around 30 ISET students visited the State Audit Office for educational purposes. Two state auditors (one of whom was a graduate of ISET) gave a series of lectures to the visitors, which was initially intended to be conducted in English, but eventually done in Georgian due to the absence of international students.

The VET reform assessment was conducted on October 4, 2017. According to the Government Survey, 80% of the 2013-2017 Action Plan, and 50% of the entire reform, which is scheduled to last until 2020, have been implemented. The survey also showed how the reform, including the launch of the dual education system, which took off in 2013 revamped the whole structure of the vocational education system.