EU Official Warns Georgian Education Reform Could Isolate Students from Europe

EU Project Coordinator Lika Glonti expressed concerns over the Georgian government’s proposed education reform, warning that the shift to an 11-year school system could prevent Georgian students from being able to study at European universities.

Glonti’s comments came in response to the government’s recently announced education reform which includes several sweeping structural changes - among them, reducing general education to 11 years, introducing a 3-year bachelor’s and 1-year master’s model, and implementing the ‘one faculty per state university’ rule. The reform also points to the creation of a second national university hub in Kutaisi, alongside Tbilisi, The Caspian Post reports citing foreign media.

As Glonti stated, the implications of these reforms extend far beyond state universities. Writing on social media, she noted that the proposed funding system, which would allocate state orders exclusively to public institutions, would leave private universities increasingly dependent on tuition fees. In a country where many families already struggle with financial hardship, she warned, this shift could make higher education unattainable for large segments of the population.

Glonti further predicted that private universities would be forced to rely on foreign students, particularly in medical programs while enrollment in other disciplines could sharply decline. She described the reform as a step that ‘blocks the path to studying at European universities’.