Doctoral Education in Georgia
The joint project “Structured Education – Quality Assurance – Freedom to Think“ of the University of Göttingen and Ilia State University in Tbilissi founded by the Volkswagen Foundation and the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia has been launched in February 2018.
Eleven Georgian doctoral candidates have been selected for the first structured international doctoral training programme (Carl Friedrich Lehmann-Haupt International Doctoral Programme) offered at Ilia State University. They are working on their dissertations under the specific conditions of a Cotutelle procedure. In addition to the research stays at both universities, the Cotutelle model is based on the co-supervision by professors from both partner institutions and the opportunity to be awarded a doctoral degree from both universities. In the first year of the programme, most candidates had completed their first research stay in Göttingen. Also, supervisors from Georgia and Germany visited their partners and in this way had the possibility to get to know each other’s research culture better. The launch of the Carl Friedrich Lehmann-Haupt International Doctoral Programme was celebrated with an opening event on 27th September 2018.
On the basis of the Lehmann-Haupt International Doctoral Programme, an International Doctoral School (IDS) will be established at Ilia State University. In December 2018, a high-level delegation from Ilia State University visited Göttingen to discuss the development of the IDS. Beside the meetings with representatives of the four graduate schools at the University of Göttingen, the delegation had the opportunity to meet the doctoral candidates from the programme. During the final part of the workshop, the rector of Ilia State University, Professor Zedania, presented the results of the previous days and the shared vision of the IDS to Dr. Wilhelm Krull, Secretary General of the Volkswagen Foundation, and Dr. Matthias Nöllenburg, Programme Director at the Volkswagen Foundation, and Professor Ulrich Diederichsen, Vice President of the University of Göttingen. The main goal of establishing the IDS is to provide Georgian doctoral candidates with a structured, internationally standardized doctoral education in the long term and to sustainably improve the quality and reputation of Georgian doctoral degrees as well as to open career perspectives within and outside of academia.
Contact:
Aleksandra Bovt
Göttingen International / The International Office
Phone: +49 (0)551 39-21355
E-Mail: aleksandra.bovt@zvw.uni-goettingen.de