EUA welcomes new collective member from Georgia
22 March 2022
The EUA Council recently approved the application for full collective membership by the Standing Conference of Rectors of Georgian Public Higher Education Institutions, taking the number of national rectors’ conferences represented within EUA to 34.
The Standing Conference of Rectors of Georgian Public Higher Education Institutions will thus be represented in the EUA Council, which consists of the presidents of the national university associations. The Council defines EUA’s priorities and policies and approves membership applications. It meets three times a year.
The Standing Conference of Rectors of Georgian Public Higher Education Institutions was established in 2019. It has 17 founding members (public institutions) and 17 associate members (private institutions) and is the primary representative body for universities in Georgia. EUA now counts 10 university members in Georgia, six of whom are also members of the Standing Conference of Rectors. Its aims are to uphold the principles of the Magna Charta Universitatum, including academic freedom and institutional autonomy, in the Georgian higher education system, to represent universities’ interests in national policy discussions, and to support the sector in addressing common challenges.
Amanda Crowfoot, EUA Secretary General, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be able to welcome the Georgian rector’s conference into our family of European university associations. Cooperation with the Georgian higher education sector was already strong before and will certainly be given new momentum through this collective membership. We hope to provide our Georgian members with support through European information-sharing and best-practice exchange and, in turn, look forward to Georgian perspectives being fed into EUA’s work.”
EUA was formed in 2001 as the result of a merger between the Association of European Universities (CRE) and the Confederation of European Union Rectors’ Conferences. In addition to its activities in the context of the European Union, EUA has been engaged as a key actor in the Bologna Process, an intergovernmental higher education reform process involving 49 countries, since its inception. The Republic of Georgia has been a full member of the Bologna Process since 2005.
