Office of OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities launches project to develop course on tolerance and diversity at Georgian higher education institutions

The office of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities held a kick-off meeting to launch a long-term project to support the implementation of Georgia’s State Strategy for Civic Equality and Integration in Tbilisi on 16 May 2017.

The project aims to develop and introduce a course promoting tolerance and diversity among ethnic minority and majority students attending higher education institutions and departments that participate in the Georgian government’s 1+4 programme.

The 1+4 programme helps students from national minority backgrounds to access tertiary education at Georgian higher education institutions by improving their Georgian language skills during their first year before they embark on their studies in the following four years.

Natia Gorgadze, of the Centre for Civil Integration and Inter-ethnic Relations, the project’s implementing partner, said: “The project will create the first university-wide course on tolerance and diversity.”

The course will be developed in co‑operation with participating higher education institutions. It will use an interactive approach to promote mutual understanding between national minority students in the 1+4 programme, as well as between them and interested ethnic Georgian students, to promote a more inclusive student body, and contribute to the integration of society.

Representatives of Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi State Medical University, Gori State University, Telavi State University and Samtskhe-Javakheti State University attended the meeting.