MINISTRY OF ECONOMY
AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
OF GEORGIA

Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia Natia Turnova examined the Georgian Maritime Academy in Batumi, where she studied the ongoing educational processes and observed the existing training infrastructure of higher educational institutions. The Minister also spoke with the academy professors and students. Natia Turnava emphasized the importance of the seafarers' profession to the country's economy. She also talked about the contribution that they bring to the country and singled out the prospects and future plans in this regard.

The meeting was held in question-answer mode, where students were given the opportunity to ask questions directly to the representatives of the Ministry of Economy. The Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development was guided by the Rector of the Maritime Academy - Irakli Sharabidze. Tamar Ioseliani, the Director of Maritime Transport Agency of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia paid a visit to the Academy as well.

"Today we have examined the Batumi Maritime Academy. I got acquainted with professors and students. Batumi Maritime Academy, founded in 1901, boasts a very long tradition of its existence on the educational arena of the region. The school administration has ambitious plans to improve the learning process, which is due to the demand for international labor markets. We will support the Maritime Academy to fulfill these ambitious plans," - the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development noted with reporters. As reported by Natia Turnava, the Maritime Academy intends to expand the list of marine professions in which students will be prepared for gaining the higher education skills.

"Education represents one of the major priorities of the Government of Georgia and is supposed to result in even greater and more powerful educational programs and budgets that would be backed up with the support and financing of such specific programs," - the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development added.

According to Natia Turnava, the Academy takes one of the leading positions in Georgia in terms of the students' demands. In 2018, the institution was ranked first in the Unified National Examinations with the percentage of applications having prioritized the Batumi Academy over the rest of available university options. Currently, 3000 students are studying in the Maritime Academy.

In addition to the education / retraining programs, the Maritime Academy of Georgia implements several infrastructural projects in a number of maritime sectors covering the completion of the construction of a new seafarer basin, which will be financed by the Maritime Transport Agency with 300,000 GEL; maintenance of the renewed simulator of the automobile division by the Government of Adjara and its presentation, which will be held in the fall of 2019.

The planned infrastructure projects include the construction of a new academic building for the Maritime Academy, which has already been developed.

The Maritime Transport Agency and the Batumi State Maritime Academy will elaborate a new concept that will enable Georgians to be employed at higher positions on cruise ships. Such trainings do not require a year of study but can be achieved in a very short time frame of employment.

It is noteworthy that many European shipholders, including Columbia Shipmanagment LTD, Tsakos Columbia, Tallink Group, etc. are among the biggest employers who express their readiness to collaborate with the Georgian colleagues in terms of the project elaboration in a timely manner.