Computer engineering professor Nana Dikhaminjia has criticized the education reform presented by the Georgian Dream government, saying that the proposed principle of “one city - one faculty” shows that the authorities “do not want Georgia to be part of the European educational space.” According to her, the initiative risks dismantling the country’s academic diversity and pushing universities back toward a Soviet-style, rigid system.
Dikhaminjia said the reform could lead to Ilia State University losing its engineering and natural sciences programs, leaving only the Faculty of Humanities. She noted that about $2 million was invested in creating Iliauni’s engineering laboratories in partnership with San Diego State University through the Millennium Challenge Corporation project, and that the university’s computer engineering program already holds international ABET accreditation, with three others in the process.
She also warned that the reform undermines modern educational trends that emphasize interdisciplinarity and program flexibility. “Globally, universities encourage students to pursue minors, double degrees, and research across disciplines. If faculties are divided in this way, such opportunities will disappear,” she said, adding that this approach goes against the direction of contemporary higher education systems.
Dikhaminjia further noted that Georgia’s loss of membership in the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) and the European Quality Assurance Register (EQAR) already reflected growing state interference in university autonomy. “If European experts see such a drastic reorganization, it will confirm that the government is distancing Georgia from the European educational space,” she said.
