Education Reform Rocks Georgia

Hunger strikes, street protests, public arrests. After nearly 15 years of inertia, education reform in Georgia is making headlines. And the changes are just beginning.

In December 2004 parliament passed a law to overhaul the country's higher education system without a hitch. Three months later, however, the reforms designed to root out pervasive corruption in universities and institutes – a key target of the Saakashvili anti-corruption campaign -- are meeting with growing opposition.

Protests held by State Medical College students in mid-March outside of parliament illustrate the case in point. The education law passed last year provided for entrance exams, administered by the government, as a requirement for admission to institutes of higher learning. Under the previous system, however, 14-year-old students could pay an annual fee that would allow them to study in a three-year college that specialized in their chosen field of study. Upon graduation, those students could automatically enter Tbilisi State Medical University as third-year students.

Critics – and the government – call it a recipe for corruption. Colleges like the State Medical College, according to Gigi Tevzadze, director of the ministry's reform project, are nothing more than a façade. "Many higher education institutions created these so called colleges," Tevzadze said. "They are not colleges in the European or American understanding, but [are meant]