The second session of the Permanent Conference of Rectors was attended by the Rectors of more than 30 higher education institutions accredited in Georgia, Head of the Quality Assurance Service and other invited guests on July 7-8, 2021 in Batumi. The main issues discussed at the conference were related to the autonomy of higher educational institutions and the membership of the Permanent Conference of Rectors in the European Universities Association.
Giorgi Sharvashidze, Rector of the Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU), addressed the conference participants with a welcoming speech. A discussion was held at the conference, the participants were addressed by the Rector of East European University (EEU), David Cherkezishvili, who discussed the issues of institutional autonomy of universities, academic freedom and autonomy in Georgian legislation and the challenges in this direction. In addition, the EEU Rector announced the International Scientific Conference – “The University Purpose and Institutional Autonomy: Challenges and their Impact on Georgia“, which will be organized by EEU and TSU on October 29-30, 2021, where Emeritus Professor Ronald Barnett (UCL, London), Professor Peter Maassen (University of Oslo) are invited as KeyNote Speakers; David Cherkezishvili informed the participants of the Standing Conference about the goals and significance of the announced conference, the conditions of participation and the newly created website of the conference (https://conference.edu.ge/);
Tamar Makharashvili (Head of the Quality Assurance Service) and Merab Khalvashi (Rector of Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University) also addressed the participants of the Permanent Conference; Presentations on Erasmus + funded institutional development projects were presented: “Strengthening the Quality and Relevance of the 3rd mission in Georgian Universities” and “Institutional Development Projects HERD”; The mentioned presentations were made by Nino Okribelashvili (Deputy Rector, TSU) and Irma Grdzelidze (Head of Quality Assurance Service, TSU); Rectors of various higher education institutions took part in the discussion, where issues related to academic freedom and institutional autonomy, determining the legal status of universities and ensuring the inter-university communication, accessing the Permanent Conference of Rectors to the Association of European Universities, etc. were also discussed.
It should be noticed that the Permanent Conference of Rectors was established in July 2019. The conference shares the fundamental principles of the Magna Charta Universitatum, including the provision of academic freedom and institutional autonomy, sharing European and national humanistic traditions, integrating teaching and research, etc. It is a kind of platform where rectors discuss the challenges of higher education, discuss issues related to the financing of higher education institutions and reconcile positions on education reforms.
A similar union of rectors exists in many European countries.