On 18 September, the first phase of development of the Kutaisi International University, the construction of buildings with a total area of 170,000 square meters was completed, making the University ready for admission of students in 2020, reported agenda.ge. The Kutaisi International University will be the first state university being built in Georgia since the country restored its independence in 1991.

Students will be able to select programmes in mathematics, computer science, and management. The university’s management system, educational priorities, and regulations governing the selection of researchers and lecturers will correspond with the Technical University of Munich, which Kutaisi University has established cooperation. Along with the lectures in auditoriums, the university will also have online lectures and lecturers. There will also be Georgian professors who are working abroad at different universities who will deliver lectures online. The honorary president of the University will be the President of the Technical University in Munich Wolfgang Herrmann.

The idea to build the Kutaisi International University stemmed from the leader of the ruling Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili, who proposed it in 2012 and officially presented the project in 2016. The project was fully funded by the Cartu foundation whose founder is also Ivanishvili and amounted to 1 billion euros.

Ivanishvili expressed his delight with the completion of the building complexes and noted that education is a very important aspect of the Georgian society. “I would also like to emphasize that the Cartu Fund will remain a private sponsor and not the owner of the university complex. It will not be someone’s property, [it] will be the state university and the property of the entire country,” he stated. He concluded his speech by saying that the university will be Georgia’s guide in the era of technological explosion.