Georgian Education Reform Aligns With Geopolitical Reorientation

Georgian Education Reform Aligns With Geopolitical Reorientation

Executive Summary:

• Georgia has proposed education reforms that would shorten schooling, weaken alignment with the Bologna Process, and threaten access to Western universities. This signals a continued shift from European integration efforts.
• The ruling Georgian Dream party is reshaping language and university policies by restricting Western-oriented programs, curbing foreign student enrollment, closing the International Education Center, and promoting Chinese and Russian language instruction over English.
• Increasing cooperation with Chinese institutions and new state-supported study opportunities in the People’s Republic of China highlight a broader geopolitical pivot. Reforms redirect educational pathways eastward while officials justify the shift as a strategy to reduce youth emigration.

On November 14–16, Georgian Minister of Education Givi Mikanadze attended the World Chinese Language Conference in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). During his presentation to the Chinese audience, he outlined planned reforms to Georgia’s education system and the strengthening of Chinese-language instruction in Georgia (Facebook/MESGeorgia, November 14). Following this event, on December 1, Georgia’s Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Youth, Baia Kvitsiani, met with President of Hubei University of Education Zheng Jun, who was visiting Georgia. Zheng expressed special gratitude for the steps taken in Georgia in recent years to promote the study of the Chinese language and confirmed readiness for further cooperation in this direction. The meeting highlighted the importance of implementing joint and exchange projects between Hubei University and higher educational institutions of Georgia (Facebook/MESGeorgia, December 1).

On October 16, the Georgian government announced a large-scale and fundamental reform affecting both secondary schools and universities (Facebook/KobakhidzeOfficial, October 16). This reform introduces substantial elements of de-Europeanization into Georgia’s education sector. Following the official withdrawal from EU accession efforts last October, this reform may prove one of the most damaging steps for Georgia’s European integration. The ruling Georgian Dream party aims to shorten the duration of school education from 12 years to 11, and university studies from its current structure of six years (4+2 for a bachelor’s and master’s) to four years (3+1) (Georgian Ministry of Education, Science, and Youth, accessed December 1).

Former Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili claimed that the reform disconnects Georgia from both its European political future and the European education system (Facebook/salome.zourabichvili, October 17). These reforms put Georgia’s education system at odds with the Bologna Process, which the country joined after the Rose Revolution and has, for years, facilitated closer integration with the European Union. This reform may close doors to Western universities for Georgian youth for a prolonged period.

Suspicions that the Georgian government is trying to align the education system with the Russian model have intensified after Georgian Dream announced a shift in school education from 12 to 11 years, as practiced in Russia. A week later, however, Deputy Secretary of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation Vladislav Grib proposed a switch to 12-year schooling in secondary schools, after which the Georgian authorities postponed the decision to fully implement the 11-year education cycle (TASS, October 31).

Evaluating the planned education reform, Mikanadze indirectly confirmed that one of the reform’s goals is to create barriers to the outflow of Georgian students to Western universities. He justified this as a desire to curb migration, stating:

Studying abroad contributes to migration processes, and many students do not return, which is harmful to our country. We want to provide high-quality education so that young people do not feel the desire to go abroad, but instead receive the education offered by the state here in Georgia (Facebook/Mtavarinow, October 21).

Under the reform, Georgian Dream plans to limit the presence of foreign students in public universities. This restriction primarily targets students from Asian countries. Local media reports, however, indicate that the number of students from Russia is steadily increasing and that the number of Russian-language places at universities is growing. Since 2012, with Georgian Dream’s coming to power, the number of Russian-language courses at Georgian universities has grown. One of the country’s largest public universities, the Georgian Technical University, explains the increase in seats in Russian-language programs as a response to market demand. While the private sector is usually more sensitive to market needs, in Georgia, private universities do not offer Russian-language programs. Public universities have nevertheless decided to develop Russian-language tracks, and at the Georgian Technical University approximately 662 students are enrolled in Russian-language programs (Batumelebi.netgazeti.ge, November 6). Among them are both Georgian citizens and international students.  

This education sector reform will also seriously affect foreign languages. For example, after the Rose Revolution, when Georgia set a course for modernization and subsequent Westernization, the government undertook significant efforts to strengthen English’s position. The then-president, Mikhail Saakashvili, who is now in prison, recalled in November that, on his initiative, around 2,000 teachers from the United States came to Georgia each year to teach English to schoolchildren. When Georgian Dream came to power, however, this English-teaching program was shut down (Facebook/SaakashviliMikheil, November 4).

Currently, instead of English, Georgian Dream has gradually begun promoting the study of Chinese and the revival of Russian. In October, local media reported that Georgian schoolteachers from the city of Gori—the city the Russian army bombed most heavily during its 2008 invasion of Georgia—were sent to Saint Petersburg as part of a Russian state professional development program (Tvpirveli.ge, October 17). This could not have happened without the Georgian government’s encouragement.

On October 21, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze issued a decree abolishing the International Education Center under the Ministry of Education as of January 1, 2026 (Legislative Herald of Georgia, October 21). This center encouraged sending young Georgians to Western countries and provided government funding for their studies at the most prestigious universities in the United States and Europe. According to the center’s rules, all students sent abroad were required to return to the country after completing their studies and working in state institutions for at least five years. This indicates that the abolition of this institution is not necessarily linked to Georgian Dream’s declared desire to stop the outflow of young Georgians emigrating abroad for permanent residence. Instead, it represents a restriction on Western education in Georgia.

On November 12, the updated Erasmus+ Programme Guide showed that Georgian authorities will no longer be eligible for Erasmus+ programmes from 2026 onward due to “political developments in Georgia.” Georgia is now listed among the countries “not associated with the programme” (European Commission, November 12). At this stage, however, it appears that these restrictions apply only to programs implemented directly through the Georgian government and state institutions. Participation of Georgian youth through university channels will not be interrupted for the time being. The National Erasmus+ Office in Georgia clarified on November 17 that educational institutions “continue to participate in Erasmus+ mobility and cooperation activities” (Facebook/erasmusgeorgia, November 17).

Georgia is seeing an increasing number of alternative educational opportunities for its youth in the PRC. The International Education Center under the Ministry of Education, operating in a transitional mode, announced on November 17 the recruitment of young people for studies in the PRC at the undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral levels, as well as support for participation in programs for researchers and Chinese language courses, including coverage of necessary living expenses, for the 2026–2027 academic year (Facebook/iec.gov.ge, November 17). The involvement of a state institution in promoting higher education in the PRC, rather than Western universities, highlights Georgia’s transforming foreign policy orientation.

According to the EU Delegation to Georgia, Georgia ranks fourth worldwide among partner countries outside the European Union in terms of outgoing Erasmus+ mobility. As of October 31, the delegation reported that over the past decades, “More than 13,000 Georgian students and academic staff have studied, taught, or trained across Europe through Erasmus+, with the European Union covering travel, tuition, and living costs.” Additionally, “over 22,000 young people from Georgia have participated in EU-funded youth learning mobility, cultural projects, and training programs, strengthening dialogue, inclusion, and shared European values” (Facebook/EUinGeorgia, October 31).

Georgian Dream’s planned education reforms signal a significant geopolitical shift. By shortening school and university programs, limiting opportunities oriented toward Western countries, and promoting Chinese and Russian instead of English, the government is distancing the education system from Europe and moving it toward Eastern influence. Officials justify these changes as a way to curb youth emigration, but the reforms risk isolating Georgian youth from Western universities and undermining decades of European integration, reshaping the country’s future generations in line with Georgian Dream’s new strategic priorities.