Student Involvement in TSU Quality Assurance Mechanism

Student involvement in making decisions and ensuring quality education will be carried out with the support of European partners at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. The first working meeting with representatives of Scottish organization - Student Partnerships in Quality Scotland (Sparqs) was held online. 

The project “Building student capacities to ensure their involvement in TSU quality assurance” aims to support student’s increased participation in quality assurance process at Tbilisi State University, to strengthen Student Self-Government as an independent institution and promote governance practice based on democratic principles. 

Rector of TSU, George Sharvashidze, Deputy Rector of TSU, Nino Okribelashvili, Dean of the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences, Ramaz Khomeriki, Head of the Quality Assurance Service, Irma Grdzelidze, representatives of International Education Center Alumni Association (IECAA) and TSU Student Self-Government participated in the online meeting. 

“This is a necessary path our University should pass to ensure that student organizations are better involved in quality management and monitoring. I hope that the experience accumulated by our Scottish partners will be useful for our University. The project will help students gain experience, share it with each other and Scottish partners, as well as establish bilateral contacts,” Rector Sharvashidze said.  

Vice President of TSU Student Self-Government, Achi Javakhishvili said that the negotiations are underway with the Scottish company that has a 15-year experience of having relations with European universities. This company assists European students to ensure their involvement in quality assurance mechanisms of their respective universities. “TSU students are not involved in quality assurance mechanism, either at central or faculty levels. Our goal is to ensure that each faculty and program has its own student representative. We, the students, know better what problems our university is facing and what should be improved,” Achi Javakhishvili noted. He added that a pilot project will be implemented at the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences from September, while from 2021, all other faculties will get involved in the project. 

The project will be implemented with the support of Student Partnerships in Quality Scotland (Sparqs) that helps universities carry out quality assurance processes through cooperation with students. 

Eve Lewis, director of Sparqs, said that student involvement in decision making is very important. He expressed hope that the parties will share their knowledge and experience with each other. 

The project is being implemented by TSU Quality Assurance Service and Student Self-Government with the financial support of International Education Center Alumni Association (IECAA). The Scottish organization will ensure trainings for participating students and staff, as well as help TSU introduce “a program representative” practice.