Gudavadze-Patarkatsishvili Foundation Offers Full Scholarship to 10 Students

On July 19, San Diego State University Georgia (SDSU Georgia), Millenium Challenge Account Georgia (MCA Georgia) and the Gudavadze-Patarkatsishvili Foundation (GPF) hosted an official signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at Radisson Blue Iveria Hotel.

This year, the GPF offered 10 full scholarships to successful students of SDSU Georgia’s upcoming cohort to finance their studies in the San Diego State University.

The goal of the MoU is to facilitate the growth and popularity of STEM fields in Georgia by providing scholarship opportunities for SDSU Georgia students. Moreover, the MoU will support STEM conferences and other educational activities in the future.

The ceremony was opened by Magda Magradze, Director of MCA Georgia, followed by Halil Guven, Rector of SDSU Georgia, and Zurab Kervalishvili, Director of the GPF, who then officially signed the MoU. Three scholarship recipient students shared their success stories with the audience.

“San Diego State University offers Bachelor Degree programs to Georgian students and it is the only university that awards students with an American diploma,” Magradze said. “Together with the university, we created a special Public Private Partnership Fund (PPPF). Today, we obtained more than $3 million in funds. We decided to sign an MoU with GPF, which will reward 10 successful students, who will start their first year of university with a full scholarship. This is a vital opportunity since we have many bright young students whose success is our country’s success.”

“We are glad to see the increasing popularity of STEM subjects in Georgia,” Guven said. “SDSU has been in Georgia since 2014 and has reached more than 600 students. We are growing every year, not just in numbers but in quality of students. We are very happy with the developments. We are collaborating with a lot of distinguished companies who give us a chance to offer scholarships, internships and part-time jobs as well as activities like hackathons. This is the biggest contribution so far, which will allow distinguished students to study in our program.”

“The main goal of our foundation is to facilitate the development of the education system in Georgia, specifically to make high-quality education affordable. We invest in our country’s future, which serves the development of the education system. We are happy to have signed the MoU and to motivate students further,” Kervalishvili added.

“I received a full scholarship, which is essential both for myself and my family. It was my dream to study at SDSU Georgia and the university took into account that my family are refugees from Abkhazia. This will be a step forward towards my success,” said Mariam Gagua, one of the recipients of the full scholarship and a Computer Engineering Student at SDSU Georgia.

By Anna Zhvania