PM at Opening of KIU: It's the Most Significant & Generous Charity of Recent Years

“It is the most significant and greatest occurrence that has happened in our country in recent years!” announced Giorgi Gakharia, Prime Minister of Georgia, at the grand opening of Kutaisi International University yesterday.

The PM expressed gratitude to Bidzina Ivanishvili and Cartu Fund for the project and stated that a sound, comprehensive and robust system of education is vital for enabling Georgia to make further strides towards future development and the advancement of the country.

“Let me greet and welcome Madam President, Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia! Ladies and Gentlemen! My special welcome to students! I understand that it is one of the most significant days in your life. I also understand that this is an extraordinary day as you are starting a studentship with facemasks. It was quite hard to imagine by each of you, but it is now a reality, which we should all get used to. It will also pass, but this university - Kutaisi International University - will remain, along with your responsibility to advance the country to a new level of development. It will need to be done by you as we all understand that a sound, comprehensive and robust system of education is of tremendous importance in enabling Georgia to make further strides towards the future development and advancement of the country. Fundamental science and education have even higher importance towards this end.

"At the same time, I wish to join Madam President and express tremendous gratitude to Mr. Bidzina Ivanishvili and Cartu Fund by conveying my humble ideas about the most significant and generous charity made in our country in recent years,” stated Gakharia.

As noted by the Prime Minister of Georgia, students all over the world will have to live in a completely new reality due to global challenges and fundamental education is the only platform for finding the right solution.

“In addition, I want our students to know that they will have to live in a completely different, new reality as global challenges become more and more pressing in our daily life. We should all understand that fundamental education is the only platform for finding the right solution to these challenges. Global competition will also be completely different. It will not be the studentship and science of our generation. It will be challenges of completely different quality and we should be prepared for them. Each student of this university will and should be the pride of our country” stated Giorgi Gakharia.

The Head of Government noted that Kutaisi International University will give a new function to the city.

“I wish to congratulate the local residents, as Kutaisi as a city is acquiring a new function and a new mission. It has always been a center of Georgian science, culture and development, but today it should also turn into an education center and I wish to once again underline the importance of fundamental science manifested by Kutaisi International University. Unfortunately, in recent decades we had a quite significant gap towards this end. I congratulate and wish you a successful future and great victories for a stronger Georgia and bright future of our country!” stated Giorgi Gakharia.

Kutaisi International University (KIU) admitted its first undergraduate students in three studies taught in English: management, math and computer science.

The eligibility criteria of KIU are one of the most challenging among the higher education institutions currently operating in Georgia, and are compatible with those of the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

KIU cooperates with the leading European higher education institution – Munich Technical University (TUM) - and its programs are designed according to the operating model of TUM. KIU conveys knowledge in the English language through Georgian and European professors and teachers.

KIU is located in an ecologically clean environment in Kutaisi. The campus spans out at 153 ha and comprises state-of-the-art academic buildings, libraries, cafeterias, streamlined infrastructure, common working spaces, dorms and accommodation buildings for the faculty. The idea for the creation of KIU comes from Bidzina Ivanishvili and his family. Cartu Fund is investing over 1 billion Euros in the implementation of the project.

KIU cooperates with IBA being a world leader in the manufacturing of equipment and machinery for proton therapy of cancer diseases for the establishment of the first proton therapy center in Georgia. It will lead to the treatment of cancer with advanced methods. Scientific studies will be carried out here as well and an experimental base will be created for physics of elementary particles, radiation physics and biophysics.

Following officials addressed the audience at the Grand Opening of Kutaisi International University today: Salome Zourabichvili, President of Georgia; Archil Talakvadze, Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia; Mikheil Chkhenkeli, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Georgia, Wolfgang A. Herrmann, Honorary President of Kutaisi International University and Alexander Tevzadze, Rector of Kutaisi International University.

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