Georgian students receive American degrees at satellite campus in Tbilisi

Georgian students are being given the chance to gain and American education and earn internationally-recognised qualifications while remaining on home soil thanks to a fruitful partnership between Georgia and the US.

One hundred university students in Georgia will spend the next few years studying their Bachelor’s degrees at one of three local universities while being taught by US professors and receiving an American education.

The entrants have been accepted into the San Diego State University’s courses in Chemistry, Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering, as part of the Georgian Government’s initiative to attract more young people into technical majors.

Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili addressed the new students on Monday, the first day of the new academic year, and called the joint Georgian-American project "one of the most successful in the history of United States-Georgian relations”.

Read Lali Tsertsvadzes’s story about how prestigious US University opens campuses in Georgia in Agenda.ge’s Special Reports section.

The head of the Georgian Government added he was particularly glad to see greater numbers of students enrolled in technical majors. Garibashvili praised the "healthier trend”, who said most university entrance students preferred to study Law as their Bachelor’s degree.

The chance for three Georgian universities to offer educational certificates from the United States came about after the American government and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) signed a memorandum with San Diego University in the summer of 2014.

Since then work has been underway to renovate old buildings and construct new ones at the San Diego State University satellite campus ahead of the 2015-2016 academic year.

The University officially launched its Georgia Campus on Monday and opened the technical courses at Tbilisi State University, Ilia State University and Georgian Technical University.