Globalization, Bologna and Universities in Countries of Transition: Case of Georgia

Description

Part of the CRASSH Fellows Work-in-Progress seminar series.  All welcome, no registration necessary.  Sandwich lunch and refreshments provided.

Professor Marine Chitashvili (Psychology, Tbilisi State University)

Abstract

 

This research focuses on organizational changes in higher educational institutions in Georgia after the new law of Higher Education in 2004 and Georgia’s entry into the Bologna Process in 2005. Within these two regulatory frameworks, Georgian higher education institutions are undergoing major reforms, including  the standardization of academic degrees through mechanisms of quality assurance administered by University management systems. The basic model of modernization is managerial, sharply differentiating academic and administrative responsibilities, and attempting to implement regulations and templates for administration that are isomorphic with European and American models.  It is assumed that the new managerial models will help to build a modern educational system with academic institutions that are accountable, transparent, and high in quality.

The research examines how managerialism affects public universities in countries of transition from the Soviet past, how the old Soviet universities are transforming  themselves (if they are) into 21st century universities, and what the expected consequences of development of public universities controlled by state agencies and central administration might be.. The case study of Tbilisi State University, the oldest and biggest research university in Georgia, is used to test the hypothesis of the impact of managerialism on universities in countries in transition. The observed malfunction of newly embedded organizational and institutional models of higher education at public universities provokes enquiry as to why the effort to implement  Western models of “best practices” in higher education in countries in transition fails.

 

 

To access the Readings for the Work in Progress seminar, please contact Michelle Maciejewska.