So far, 2017 has proved to be an exceptional year for ISET and its community. The school released its 10th cohort of well-educated and professional economists, with 32 students from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia joining the small but very strong community of ISETers.

Over the past 10 years, ISET has been a remarkable success, propelling almost 300 graduates on to fascinating careers in academia, the government, and the private sector, as well as bringing research to bear on policy, and informing and educating the Georgian public on all things economics.

ISET’s 10th graduation ceremony was hosted at Château Mukhrani on July 1, and was attended by ISET students and their families, as well as by ISET’s many friends and supporters in Georgia and the region: past and present policymakers, prominent representatives of the business community, international organizations, and civil society groups were all in attendance.

The ceremony began with a heartwarming speech from Mr. Eric Livny, the President of ISET and the ISET Policy Institute. Mercy Tembon of World Bank Georgia, Her Excellency Martina Quick of Sweden, Chris Schlueter of BP Georgia then followed Mr. Livny in congratulating the Class of 2017 with their own remarks. The Class’ valedictorian, Nijat Guliyev, concluded the proceedings with an emotional address to his fellow students and the assembled audience, in which he praised the hard work and dedication of everyone at the institute.

While marking the school’s successes in educating a new generation of Georgian, Armenian, and Azerbaijani economists, the ceremony was also used as a launchpad for a new campaign engaging the entire ISET family in giving back to Georgia’s less fortunate communities. The ISET Giving Back campaign is centered around “adopting” rural and provincial schools, together with interested businesses and non-governmental organizations, and having ISET students act as teachers and role models, providing Georgia’s youth with career guidance, professional apprenticeship opportunities, and scholarships (should they choose to study and be admitted to a college or university).