SOME ASPECTS OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE BATUMI STATE UNIVERSITY

1. SOME ASPECTS OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE BATUMI STATE UNIVERSITY O. Gogolishvili1, L. Kalandadze1, N. Rokva1, M. Kirchkheli2 1 Batumi State University (GEORGIA)2 Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, Consultation and Organization (UNITED KINGDOM)

2. Nowadays Batumi State University is one of the popular higher educational institutions in Georgia. It is located in Batumi (Adjara region). Autonomous Republic of Adjara is situated on the South-Western Black Sea littoral of Georgia. At the end of XIX c. Batumi became the regional centre of Adjara and accordingly, it took the central place in economic, political and cultural life of Adjara. Batumi is a wonderland stretched along the coastline, naturally combining picturesque sea and mountain. In 1990es it became a large centre of oil export and industry as well as an important sea-port. The strategic location, climate and historical values of the Adjara region provide a chance for Batumi to rank high among the world university cities. The project – “Batumi University City”- has gained its actuality.

3. Adjara is the oldest part of Georgia which was under the Turkey invasion for 300 years. It was not until 1878 when it returned to its motherland. From then on Adjara has become the subject of special care for the rest of Georgia. The first Georgian school was open in Batumi where local population brought their children but not without mistrust. Gradually trust was built up among local residents, and subsequently schools multiplied. However, there was a scarcity of qualified teachers. The young teachers were coming from the different part of Georgia to work in the schools of the villages in mountains of Adjara. Georgian society kept expanding the school system in Adjara, mainly in Batumi. With this purpose the question was raised to open a Boys’ Gymnasium in 1893. It took a while and enormous efforts to make it happen eventually in 1897. On 26 September, 1900 it also became possible to open the Women’s Gymnasium. Later, in 1923, in the former building of Women’s Gymnasium a Pedagogical Institute was set up, which later became the Pedagogical Technical School. It qualified teachers for elementary (junior) classes.

4. In 1935, the first higher educational institute was established in Adjara. It was a Pedagogical Institute offering 2 year training. The Institute consisted of 4 faculties: Georgian language and literature, Physics-Mathematics, History and Natural Sciences-Geography. The special interest was revealed about the training of local candidates. After certain period there was enough local staff to teach at the institute. In 1990, the Pedagogical Institute was turned into Shota Rustaveli State University. At the same year other faculties were added: journalism, economics, law, medical. During that period, the Georgian population was exposed to difficult socio-political events which resulted in the loss of interest in fundamental sciences. Due to massive unemployment the only criteria in choosing the profession became the remuneration. It has been a noticeable decrease of applicants in traditional faculties.

5. In 1997, crucial step was taken towards modernization when the university scientific council adopted "The Concepts of University Education”. The document officially introduced new instruction structure at the University that transferred from one level (5 years) study system to two-level system. It is also an endeavor to become integrated in the European educational environment. The University is actively involved in the “Bologna Process”. The priority has been set – close collaboration with other countries’ higher institutions. It is widely believed to be a progressive movement towards the international standards of education

6. Today Batumi State University is a forward-looking university with 8 academic units (faculties):

7. Batumi State University faces new demands and strives to meet the challenges of 21st century by offering students top class education, developing research opportunities, enhancing its material-technical base and resources. The university’s main directions, principles, values and reforms are carried out dynamically in a systematic and coordinated manner and have placed Batumi State University on a developmental path leading towards European Higher Education Area. In May 2005 Georgia joined the Bologna process and the transformation of the Georgian educational space has begun. Major novelties were introduced in Batumi State University. In 2006 the university successfully passed the institutional accreditation. New specialties have been established at the University and new rules for administrative and academic registration were enforced.

8. In 70-80s there was a fierce competition such as at least 20-25 applicants for a place on following specialties: history, chemistry, and physics. It meant the difficulty in choosing the best applicants among the well-prepared ones. There were a limited number of guaranteed placements for those applicants who were residents of villages of mountain Adjara with a view of having educated staff back in the villages. Nowadays, an applicant in applying for General National Exams makes a choice out of 7 faculty for the most prestigious and popular ones. As a result, students who are best prepared in math are mainly enrolled in economics and finance specialties. They are initially attracted by a promising remuneration in Banks and Tax offices. Another natural outcome of this process is that the less mathematically minded applicants are left on a math specialty. The most of them could not carry on studying because of poor academic preparation. On the other hand, physics and chemistry were recently excluded from entry exams which resulted in poor teaching of these subjects in schools. Consequently, the interest in physics and chemistry was stifled. The ones who specialised in history were left unemployed. They had no choice but be retrained and re-qualified. There is a tendency to study a law among the gifted youngsters.

9. The allocation of students on specialties could be illustrated as following: • Physics -22 • Hystory-25 • Chemistry-28 • Mathematics-71 • Other specialties-2800

10. Moreover, students have a right to move from these faculties to more prestigious ones. According to statistics these specialties have become non-profit for the University. However, the university keeps small number of students on these faculties in order to save these specialties and academic staff, bearing in mind the long-term interests of the entire country. To awaken the interest in these extinct specialties we are arranging open days with school pupils and future applicants. Conferences are held by joint initiatives on behalf of schools and the university. There is a child university on the basis of the university where lectures are delivered in chemistry, history, mathematics, and physics in an accessible language for pupils.

11. The similar difficulties were also registered by the government bodies in other higher education institutions after the first educational reform had been carried out. There was an obligatory fourth exam added to the General National Exams; projects were funded in advertising the scientific subjects through popular lectures on these topics. The process of certification of the teachers has already begun and the motivation has also grown due to an increase of salary for certified school teachers; the special project has been launched to improve education in the remote and inaccessible villages of Georgia. It involves not only providing teachers there with accommodation and a good salary but 220 euro bonuses as well. The government set a priority for natural and formal sciences, humanitarian sciences, education and pedagogy. It has been decided that the finances for magistracy will be allocated in the following way: 10% of the funding will be given according to the results of general magistracy exam rating list. Next 40% will be evenly shared among other specialties and the rest 50% are defined for priority subjects.

12. We did analytical research for subsequent specialties in the second, recently established university in Adjara region, in Khichauri (2009). Khichauri is located in mountains of Adjara. The almost entire population of that region was converted back into its traditional Orthodox Christianity. Under the aegis of the church Tbel Abuseridze University was established to help the local population to gain education and also be employed. The lecturers are from Batumi State University. The education and food are free of charge for the residents of Khichauri. There is the second year entry exams and the competition is set up on those specialties, which are about to disappear in Batumi State University. For instance: 28 applicants out of 391 have already ticked as the first choice on 56 placements of historical specialty from possible 7. According to recent data, there are no physics and chemistry faculties in that university. Khichauri University has attracted students due to material point of view and it seems to be the most efficient way of promoting the specialties.

13. some specialties in Batumi State University as physics, math, chemistry and history are under the crisis because of lack of interest on behalf of students. We would like to underline that these fields have been extremely popular and competitive because of high level of academic teaching since the establishment of the university. There has been the decreasing trend of students on these faculties since 2000 which has led to grave consequences. There have been different measures taken to improve the situation such as: active involvement of the school pupils in the university activities, joint conferences, Olympiads, popular lectures, and etc but it does not seem to be enough. To our mind, there must be much deeper rooted reasons for it. One of our hypotheses is the existence of the direct correlation between the demand of labour market and remuneration in the country.

14. Thank you for your attention