The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia announced on January 9 that it has allocated GEL 4 million (USD 1.4 mln) to finance Higher Education studies of over 1,600 students that are native to villages along the line of Russian occupation for the 2019-2020 academic year.
The government has been financing BA and MA students living in the Tbilisi-administered villages adjacent to the dividing line with Georgia’s occupied regions of Tskhinvali and Abkhazia since 2013.
The Ministry of Education said that the state funding has been allocated to the students living in the villages of the following municipalities: Gori, Kaspi, Kareli, Khashuri, Dusheti, Oni, Sachkhere, Tsalenjikha and Zugdidi. Each student receives state funding for tuition fee at GEL 2,250 (approximately USD 785) per year.
The Education Ministry noted that number of students receiving state funding has been increasing on a yearly basis and that during past seven years the government has financed the studies of over 7,000 students, allocating over GEL 15 million of budgetary funds for this purpose.
As part of the new program, aspiring students from the occupied regions go through year-long preparations course for university admissions. They are based at Tbilisi State University and Zugdidi State University.
Read also:
- Amid Checkpoint Closure, Aspiring Students from Abkhazia Left out of University Exams
- Government to Help Prep Abkhazia, Tskhinvali Region Graduates for Universities
- 146 Georgian Students from Occupied Areas Enroll in Universities
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