“Should the “one city, one faculty” principle come into effect, certain faculties will be placed into a run-off mode, with new student intake commencing at the Academy of Diplomacy instead,” Minister of Education, Science and Youth Givi Mikanadze has stated in an address to Parliament.

The Minister noted that faculties at state universities whose programmes overlap with those of the Academy of Diplomacy would be transitioned to a run-off arrangement.

“There is the well-known Diplomatic Academy in Vienna, established by the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A state has the sovereign right to establish an appropriate educational institution within its own framework. The need for an Academy of Diplomacy is self-evident. This Academy will fulfil a specific function. Where overlap exists with certain disciplines, the principle upon which the reform is founded will apply: one city, one faculty. That said, nothing is being abolished outright. Should this principle come into effect, the natural consequence is that certain faculties will transition to a run-off mode, whilst intake will begin at the Academy of Diplomacy. We shall need to see which programmes receive accreditation, and so forth. At present, the institution is being established in legislative terms, and the relevant procedures, including accreditation, will follow in due course. If a particular discipline at a state university achieves accreditation, the faculty currently responsible for teaching that discipline will transition to a run-off mode. Meanwhile, new students entering the discipline will be transferred to the Academy of Diplomacy under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

I should emphasise that this is consistent with market research. Just as we are offering academic staff at other faculties entering run-off mode the opportunity to be integrated, both for the teaching of subjects in run-off and within universities where the ‘one city, one faculty’ model operates, we intend to offer these individuals a remuneration arrangement whereby each person is attached to a single university, thereby freeing up posts at the remaining three institutions. There may, over time, be a degree of staffing shortfall. We aim to retain personnel to the greatest extent possible, but given the autonomy of universities, this is ultimately a matter for each institution to resolve internally,” Mikanadze stated.