Political opposition party “For Georgia” MP Tata Khvedeliani has criticized the government’s planned higher education reform, calling it rushed, unstructured, and poorly explained. Speaking on BMGTV’s “Tsertili,” she said even an interpellation in parliament failed to clarify key questions raised about the policy.
Opposition lawmakers submitted 44 questions to Education Minister Givi Mikhanadze regarding changes in both higher and general education. According to Khvedeliani, the minister did not provide concrete answers to most of them, particularly on the new university funding model, which she described as one of the reform’s weakest components.
The government says the new funding system was developed with technical assistance from the World Bank under the “Innovation, Inclusion and Quality – Georgia (I2Q)” project, which includes performance-based and base funding elements. The project, financed with a €90 million loan agreed in 2019, aims to improve higher education funding and internationalization, though the full implementation timeline remains unclear.
Khvedeliani also argued that the reforms may be politically driven and potentially linked to strengthening specific institutions at the expense of others. She said the opposition intends to contact the World Bank directly to seek clarification, claiming the reform could conflict with the Bologna Process and risk the international recognition of Georgian degrees.
