Over the last 20 years, Georgia has made impressive economic progress. With an average annual growth rate of 5.4%, Georgia has been classified as an upper middle-income country since 2019. Sustaining this development pathway requires, however, a transformation of the education system such that it: (a) can deliver the necessary competencies for the young population aligned with market needs, and (b) support the private sector in creating jobs through enhancing entrepreneurship and innovation. Several challenges remain.
Therefore the ambition of RiHEI is to make Kutaisi International University, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University and Gori State Teaching University lead the Higher Education Institution (HEI) ecosystem transformation in Georgia in such a way that education, research and innovation blend in to foster job creation youth entrepreneurship and greater interest in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics) while supporting responsible and environmentally sustainable growth that accounts for remote and rural areas as well.
This is achieved via the following key actions:
• RRI (Responsible Research and Innovation) and open science which: brings HEIs closer to research commercialization, and university spinoffs while bringing young people closer to STEAM via quadruple helix co-creation and ecosystem co-creation.
• Entrepreneurial university: this makes the HEIs more flexible to market needs, more proactive in launching startups (by motivating students and staff) and commercializing innovations as well as identifying mechanisms that facilitate better industrial integration, leading to job creation and enterprise.
• Engaged university: which makes the HEIs more responsive to community needs and more capable of solving social challenges (inclusion, gender, engagement) and providing a better development ecosystem for everyone.
• Future green campuses: which not only achieves climate targets but also raises awareness and instills climate-friendly behaviors within students and staff.
• Digital university: which better connects trainers and learners with innovative mechanisms, provides pervasive access to quality education and facilitates a suitable learning environment even for learners from remote areas.
RiHEI adopts the MEL Framework of the EIT HEI Initiative when it comes to defining, monitoring and assessing impact. To measure and understand HEIs’ contribution to innovation ecosystems and institutional change, assessment frameworks are needed to understand causal pathways, and both processes and outcomes need to be tracked within each context.
Find out more about EIT HEI.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.