On June 12-13, the Carl Friedrich Lehmann-Haupt International Doctoral School at Ilia State University (ISU) will host an international conference on double-degree programs – “Modernizing Doctoral Education in the Caucasus and Central Asia: Key Achievements, Challenges and Prospects for Further Enhancement of Collaborative Research”. The event is funded by the Volkswagen Stiftung.
The ISU International Doctoral School, co-funded and supported by the Volkswagen Foundation and the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia, is currently running two structured double-degree doctoral programs in cooperation with the Universities of Göttingen and Münster. The school has been acknowledged as a best practice by the Volkswagen Foundation.
In 2016, the Volkswagen Foundation awarded ten (10) grants to universities in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, with five (5) projects involving Georgian universities – two of which were initiated by the ISU in cooperation with the Universities of Göttingen and Münster. In only two cases a structured doctoral program has been prepared resulting in the development of the international double degree programs. These programs allow doctoral students to defend their doctoral theses using the model based on the Cotutelle principle and obtain a double doctoral degree from each of the two universities. Both programs have been developed at ISU.
The conference aims to discuss the best practice as well as plans and challenges.
Welcome speeches will be delivered by Prof. Dr. Nino Doborjginidze, the ISU Rector, Dr. Giorgi Amilakhvari, the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia, H.E. Peter Fischer, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany to Georgia, Dr. Matthias Nöllenburg, the Program Director of the Volkswagen Foundation in Central Asia and the Caucasus and Dr. Erekle Astakhishvili, the Director General of the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia.
- On the International Doctoral School and ISU Cooperation with the Volkswagen Foundation
Together with its European partner higher education institutions, the ISU International Doctoral School ensures the development of high-quality double degree programs.
The school’s first major project is the Karl Lehmann-Haupt International Doctoral Program (LHIDP) which was launched in 2018 in cooperation with the Georg-August University of Göttingen and supported by the Volkswagen Foundation and the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation.
The program covered ten (10) different directions: Philology, History, Political Science, Religious and Cultural Studies, Development Economics, Ecology, Chemical Biology, Physics and, Cosmology. Georgian and German professors supervised the doctoral students in those programs. Upon successful completion of the doctoral project, the Georgian and German universities awarded the doctoral degrees to the students.
For two (2) semesters 12 doctoral students had the opportunity to study at the Georg-August University of Göttingen.
The program’s success led to the following remarkable achievements for the International Doctoral School:
- Two (2) structured double-degree doctoral programs have been developed in cooperation with the Georg-August University and the Westfälische Wilhelms-University of Münster
- A double doctoral degree has been awarded with the support of the Doctoral School and in collaboration with the University of Ghent (Belgium);
- A double degree to be awarded based on an exclusive agreement (Cotutelle) is currently being developed with Montpellier (France) and other leading European universities (Hanover, Leuven)
The experience and standards of the International Doctoral School and the Carl Friedrich Lehmann-Haupt International Doctoral Program (LHIDP) have been fully implemented at the ISU doctoral level studies, including the programs delivered in Georgian.
It has become possible to offer doctoral courses focused on the development of subject-specific and methodological as well as transferable skills. These courses are designed to enhance doctoral students’ ability to conduct doctoral research effectively and facilitate their academic progress.
2023
