To Mr. Bidzina Ivanishvili, Leader and Honorary Chairman of the “Georgian Dream” Party

Dear Mr. Bidzina,

Georgian Technical University respectfully acknowledges the necessity of implementing reforms in the higher education system and welcomes the principles declared in the “National Concept of the Higher Education System.” However, the potential merger of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University and Georgian Technical University does not stem from the essence, objectives, or logic of the said concept, and consequently, we will not achieve the results defined by the reform.

To date, only general formulations have been made available to the academic community, according to which the planned merger – which essentially means the abolition of Georgian Technical University’s independent institutional status – is presented as a means of optimizing the higher education system and improving the quality of education. Without detailed substantive, structural, and scientific analysis, these statements do not provide a basis for constructive and professional discussion.

Unfortunately, to this day, the academic community has not been presented with the reform’s conceptual documents, its implementation model, timelines, financial guarantee mechanisms, the scientific component, or the professional composition of the reform developers. This is particularly concerning given that Georgian Technical University’s academic and scientific community comprises scientists and researchers recognized both in Georgia and in the international academic space, yet they have not had the opportunity to participate in the discussion and formation of this reform.

Georgian Technical University cannot be considered as a structural subdivision or “school” of any other institution. Each of our engineering-technological faculties represents an independent scientific-academic school that has shaped and developed engineering thinking and practice in Georgia. The development of our country was, is, and, we believe, will be founded on the knowledge and professional responsibility of Georgian engineers. These are not merely emotional words – this is tradition, the heritage of the past, and the foundation for future development.

Immediately upon the country’s independence, it was established as a universal educational-research institution. The university played a decisive role in the development of the country’s industrial, energy, transport, and infrastructure sectors. Considering its century-long history, the Technical University may also be regarded as a monument of Georgia’s cultural heritage—the only temple of engineering-technological knowledge in Georgia. The great Ilia once said: “If a country has 12 educated engineers, it will develop faster and more firmly than with people who think only in words.” Georgian Technical University has raised not just 12, but more than half a million professional engineers for Georgia throughout its 104-year history, who built and put this country on its feet. Neither our history, nor our present, nor our future deserves such treatment. We cannot be the generation that allowed the destruction of the temple of knowledge and the return of the country 100 years back, to a rootless, futureless Georgia.

Based on the above, we address you with a request to use your authority and state responsibility to mediate with the reform development commission, so that at this stage, the academic community receives complete and comprehensive information about the content, objectives, implementation mechanisms, and timelines of the planned reform. We believe that only an open, transparent process based on professional dialogue will ensure the real development of the higher education system and the protection of national interests.

The demand of Georgian Technical University’s academic community is that before the parliamentary hearing on the merger of Georgian Technical University with Tbilisi State University, representatives of the Parliament’s Education Committee and the Government come to the Technical University for a public discussion with our university community. Alternatively, representatives of Georgian Technical University’s academic and scientific community should be allowed to attend the parliamentary discussion of the Committee on Education, Science, and Youth Affairs.

Respectfully,

Your supporters

The Academic and Scientific Community of Georgian Technical University