First Deputy Finance Minister Giorgi Kakauridze could not say when university lecturers’ salaries will reach GEL 10,000, but said pay increases will be introduced gradually. He was responding to MP Eka Sepashvili at a parliamentary committee hearing on the 2027 budget draft.
Kakauridze said higher education reform includes additional funding for universities. Funding for free tuition will increase by GEL 100 million, while spending on grants will decrease by around GEL 33–36 million, leaving universities with approximately GEL 65 million in additional revenue. Per-student funding has also been changed, moving away from the previous standard GEL 2,250 rate toward differentiated funding by faculty.
He said the announced salary levels cannot be reached within one year. Instead, salaries will increase annually over the four-year period during which state universities transition fully to free tuition and infrastructure is improved. Kakauridze said it is too early to specify exact annual salaries because the amounts will depend on factors including teaching hours and student numbers.
As for public school teachers, Kakauridze said public-sector salaries will increase by around 8.2%. The exact increase for individual teachers will depend on their workload, as salaries vary according to the number of teaching hours. He estimated the hourly increase at around GEL 2, with the final salary increase depending on each teacher’s weekly workload.
