School of English develops relationship which leads to Erasmus+ funding to support educational reform in Georgia

Erasmus+ funding has been awarded to the University of Kent to lead a project supporting higher education reform in Georgia.  Kent will work with Ilia State University (ISU), which is based in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi to support initiatives focused on curriculum modernisation and internationalisation.

The University of Kent’s School of English developed a relationship with ISU through research in the field of comparative literature. This connection developed into wider collaboration assessing the nature and durability of the effects of higher educational reforms in society. Professor Bela Tsipuria who was formerly the Georgian Deputy Minister of Education and Science, leads the project on ISU’s side. The funding will also support students from Georgia to study for a term at Kent.

The project reinforces the University of Kent’s links in a key region for research collaboration as well as its engagement with the European Higher Education Area. Furthermore, the Erasmus+ project demonstrates the importance of the humanities in the evaluation of societal reforms.

Professor David Ayers, Professor of Modernism and Critical Theory in the School of English and Kent’s academic lead for the project, shares his views on the partnership:

We have strong ties with Ilia State University and I am delighted that we have been able to create these opportunities for student and staff exchanges. ISU is now the leading university of Georgia and is going through a period of dynamic growth, so this is an ideal moment for this collaboration which will bring new perspectives to both institutions, especially in the areas of literary studies and the arts and humanities more generally.

To find out more about Kent’s engagement with the international strand of Erasmus+, please contact Primrose Paskins in International Partnerships.