Tbilisi State University celebrates 104th anniversary

Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, the first state university in the South Caucasus, celebrated its 104th anniversary on Tuesday, with government officials delivering messages of congratulation to students and teachers of the venue.

Prime minister Irakli Garibashvili called the establishment of the educational institution “the most important achievement of our history and culture” while remarking on its pioneering historic place in the region.

In a message made on social media, Garibashvili told professors and students the TSU represented a “continuation of millennial education traditions” in the country that influenced not only the fields of science and higher education but “also [the local] political, economic, creative and public life.”

Georgian education minister Mikheil Chkhenkeli offered his message marking the date, noting “since its establishment, Tbilisi State University has played an immeasurable role in the development of our country.”

Launched in 1918, the TSU emerged in the early 19th century, as national liberation movements in Georgia sought to strengthen local cultural and educational foundations for ensuring civic maturity and development while still under the Russian Imperial rule.

The university formally opened on January 26, 1918 - the day of commemoration of King David the Builder, one of Georgia’s most famed medieval rulers - in the maiden year of the newly independent First Democratic Republic of Georgia. In the modern calendar, the date corresponds to February 8.

Tbilisi State University was named after Ivane Javakhishvili, a Georgian historian, linguist and a founder of the university, in 1989.