On July 5-7, within the framework of the Erasmus + project "Strengthening the Quality and Relevance of the 3rd mission in Georgian Universities" (SQUARE), a project consortium meeting was held at Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University.
Dr. Kakha Shengelia, President of Caucasus University, Boris (Buba) Lezhava, Vice President for Research and Strategic Development, and other representatives of the university participated in the project.
The project involves 8 Georgian and 3 European universities, the International Accreditation Agency (EFMD), the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia and the National Center for Education Quality Enhancement. The project coordinator is Tbilisi State University.
During the meetings, Georgian and foreign experts discussed the role of the university in community development, institution building, quality assurance and challenges. The meeting was opened by the Minister of Education, Culture and Sports of Adjara, Maia Khajishvili, Tamar Kaikatsishvili, First Deputy Chairman of the Department of Tourism and Resorts of Adjara.
The project aims to improve the importance and quality of the third mission in Georgian higher education institutions with the involvement of top management and structural units; provides methodology and guidelines for higher education institutions to plan, implement and evaluate their third mission. Within the framework of the project, Georgian universities, in cooperation with international partners, will develop methodologies and guidelines for planning, implementing and evaluating the third mission, and will develop a third mission strategy. The Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia and the National Center for Education Quality Enhancement will update the quality assurance system and further integrate the evaluation of the activities of the third mission up to quality assurance standards.
Each project consortium member university will develop a strategic plan for the third mission and pilot each project for the third mission. This ensures the introduction and development of the third mission at the institutional level.
