TBILISI, August 23 – A Georgian studies program at Harvard University has been suspended after funding from the Georgian government stopped.
The program at Harvard’s Davis Center began academic and research work in January 2022. It was created under the leadership of American scholar Stephen Jones with USD 2.3 million in funding from Georgia’s Education Ministry, following an initiative by then-prime minister Irakli Garibashvili.
In a statement this weekend, Georgia’s Education Ministry explained that it had been willing to continue cooperation this year and had allocated money in the state budget for that purpose.
According to the ministry, the existing agreement was extended several times, most recently until March 31, 2026, to allow remaining activities to be completed and reports submitted. The ministry said it then asked Harvard for a report on work already carried out and a concrete plan for the program’s next phase.
It said a new agreement was never reached because it had not received an agreed program setting out specific activities, a budget, timetable and measurable results. Without that framework, the ministry said, there was no basis for approving a new phase.
The ministry stressed that the decision did not amount to ending academic cooperation with Harvard. It said money already allocated could still be used for activities matching the original program’s objectives if the necessary financial reports and documentation were provided, and said it remained open to future cooperation.
Publika, a publication favorable to the political opposition against Georgian Dream, carried claims by historian Beka Kobakhidze on Saturday that the funding decision was politically motivated and alleged that Georgian Dream had expected the Harvard program to serve as a propaganda instrument. He said the government formally notified Harvard in 2026 that funding would end and claimed one of the reasons given was that the program director was considered biased.
He also recalled an episode in 2023 when, according to him, then-prime minister Irakli Garibashvili wanted to visit Harvard and give a lecture during controversy in Georgia over the first attempt to adopt the so-called foreign agents law. Kobakhidze said Harvard rejected the request.
Publika reported that Stephen Jones, who had headed the program for years, is no longer its director. The historian Kobakhidze alleged that the program now has what he described as a “politically safe” director, but maintained that the program had effectively closed and only the formal bureaucratic process remained.
Publika did not cite documentary evidence supporting the historian’s claims.
