Students at the Agriculture University continue to protest today, despite promises to restore the school’s accreditation.
TBILISI, DFWatch–The Center for Education Quality Development on Saturday informed that the Agriculture University has corrected errors which led to its accreditation being suspended, and the authorization process will start on Monday.
The center’s March 12 decision to suspended the university’s accreditation was based on a finding by the Authorization Commission.
The Agriculture University is owned by the former economy minister Kakha Bendukidze, a businessman who played an important role in the early years of Mikheil Saakashvili’s presidency and later has stuck with him but in a freer role as a ‘wise old man’ for his government.
Bendukidze, who has invested money in modernizing the institution after taking it over, claims that the accreditation was canceled for political reasons. Many of the students and academic personnel as well as several non-government organizations and government opponents agree with him, and the issue has turned into a political dispute.
After several student rallies outside the Education Ministry, and after students brought documentation to the ministry showing that the errors have been corrected, the Center for Education Quality Development confirmed that errors indeed have been corrected and the process to reauthorize the university will start today.
“The Center is ready to start this procedure together with the University’s representatives on Monday,” a statement published by the center reads.
Even though the conflict seems to be solved, students plan another rally outside the Education Ministry at 16:00 today. They do not plan to ‘sit at home’ until the authorization commission and the ministry have restored the accreditation.
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