On October 7 the Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU) signed the Memorandums of Partnership with the Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance of Georgia, the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia and Ilia State University.
The Memorandum on the Development of Social Work in the Field of Criminal Justice between the Ministry of Corrections, TSU and Ilia State University was signed by TSU Deputy Rector Soso Salukvadze; Rector of Ilia State University Giga Zedania and Deputy Minister of Corrections Beso Devdariani. The Memorandum on MA course “Social Work in the Field of Criminal Justice” between the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia, TSU and Ilia State University was signed by TSU Deputy Rector, Soso Salukvadze, Rector of Ilia State University Giga Zedania and Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia, Boris Iarochevitch.
“Today we are witnessing a very important fact because the system of criminal justice really needs reforms and availability of highly skilled specialists in this field is especially important. Higher educational institutions should focus on training such specialists and I can only welcome the fact that two leading Georgian universities are participating in the project. It is also worth noting that besides interuniversity cooperation, close cooperation will be established between the state and higher educational institutions. This is the field, which needs to be developed in our country,” TSU Deputy Rector, Soso Salukvadze said.
“Social worker preparation course is an absolutely new course of lectures created with the support of the European Union; this new direction is very important for our ministry in terms of re-socialization and rehabilitation of prisoners. I hope that this course will prove successful and we will have a lot of professional social workers in future,” Deputy Minister of Corrections Beso Devdariani said.
Nino Shatberashvili, the Head of the Rehabilitation Programs Division at the National Probation Agency, said that “social work is a new profession in Georgia, which was introduced at the both universities in 2006-2007. We could not offer criminal justice courses to students, but a very interesting program was prepared with the support of the European Union. The lectures will be delivered by experienced social workers and students will be able to further deepen their knowledge in this new direction.”
“I am glad that the European Union supports this program and I am happy that the European Union has promoted the rapprochement of these institutions,” Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia, Boris Iarochevitch said.
According to the memorandums, the Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance of Georgia will create all necessary conditions for BA and MA students from social work direction to undergo their practical studies in various agencies of the ministry. The universities, in turn, will be able to offer their MA students basic knowledge about the best experience of social work in the field of criminal justice.
Under the memorandums, social workers working in the system of the Ministry of Corrections will undergo trainings at the universities. In addition, the universities will educate highly skilled social workers for their further employment in the penitentiary system.
