Message sent on behalf of the Director of the TSU Institute for European Studies

Today is the day, when exactly six years ago my colleagues and I started the super pro-active dissemination campaign across the EaP region including Georgian Higher Education Institutions in order to recruit the very first cohort of PhD Researchers. This was on the very next day when we got our first accreditation for our brand new EU funded English-taught Interdisciplinary Doctoral Programme in European Studies.

And now, once we have got a second very successful re-accreditation, I decided to go back and look into a letter recently sent to me by the Head of EU Delegation to Georgia H.E. Ambassador Carl Harzell. After the truly hard work for the past years this letter makes the Instituteʹs staff and myself feel cheerful and accomplished. Here it goes:

"To: Director of the TSU Institute for European Studies Nino Lapiashvili

Let me first of all congratulate you and your colleagues on your efforts to have the Doctoral programme in European Studies reaccredited by the National Centre for Education Quality Enhancement. I am happy to learn that it is now in line with the newly adopted National Qualifications Framework, especially taking into account that you had to undertake the entire preparation process in a shorter time frame than initially envisaged.

Let me also praise you for being able to ensure the continued self-sustainability of the project 5 years after the EU funding came to an end. I am particularly glad to see that the EU contributed to the creation of this programme, offering esteemed interdisciplinary studies to its students. I hope that in coming years more and more people will be enjoying quality education at the Institute for European Studies and throughout the entire higher education system in Georgia.

And let me finally thank you for your contribution to the panel discussions on the future of the Eastern Partnership last September.

With that, I would like to wish you all the best in your future activities.

Best regards,

Carl Hartzell

Head of Delegation of the European Union to Georgia"