III International Conference

Summary

On October 14 and 15, 2022 the Institute for European Studies (IES) of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU) was honoured to host the Third International online Conference organized within the frames of the EU funded Erasmus+ Jean Monnet project “Establishment of the Bachelor’s Programme in European Studies” (EUStBA). The conference aimed at providing opportunity for the local stakeholders to conceptualize linkage between the teaching and research from early stages of education; In particular, shaping a space to understand the benefits of research-teaching nexus as well as providing practical insights regarding the tools to develop the institutional policy. Among the participants of the conference were academic and administrative personnel of the IES, TSU quality assurance office staff, international experts from partner universities, MA and PhD students of the IES as well as stakeholders. 

The opening ceremony of the conference was led by welcoming speeches of the Director of TSU Institute for European Studies Nino Lapiashvili, the heads of IES Undergraduate, Master’s and Doctoral Programmes Daniela Urse,  Natia Lapiashvili,  Tamaz Zubiashvili and  Vasil Kacharava. Before launching the conference sessions, the Director of TSU Institute for European Studies Nino Lapiashvili reviewed the JM project implementation process, she outlined all the steps undertaken to reach the successful output.  

The first session of the conference was dedicated to the research-teaching nexus in European Studies - nurturing international and local approaches, importance of promoting research skills at the TSU Institute for European Studies while teaching the methods of social inquiry. The keynote speaker of the session was Daniela Urse, Professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Bucharest, Co-Head of academic programmes at TSU Institute for European Studies.

Enhancement of teaching by research was the main topic of the second session. During the session the presentations of the papers were made by the authors of submissions on the Teaching Methods in European Studies, - prepared for the special JM edition of the bilingual Georgian Journal for European Studies. The Keynote speakers of the session were Kamil Zwolski -  Associate Professor in International Politics, Jean Monnet Chair of European Security Governance, Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy Politics & International Relations, University of Southampton and Professor Kerry Longhurst of Collegium Civitas, Visiting Professor at College of Europe, external evaluator of the academic programmes at TSU Institute for European Studies under Erasmus+ JM. The scientific papers discussed during the session were about “The Ways of Implementation of Problem‐Based Learning in Academic Writing Course” by Giuli Shabashvili, Associate Professor at Tbilisi State University Faculty of Humanities; “Modern Teaching and Learning Methods during Distance Learning (in General and Practical courses of the EU-Georgia Cooperation in Law and Politics)” by Archil Karaulashvili, Invited Academic Staff at the Institute for European Studies of TSU; “Socratic Method in Teaching Intellectual Property Law” by George Meskhi, Associate Professor at Saba University and Invited Academic Staff at the Institute for European Studies of TSU; “Teaching the Principles of Democratic Governance” by Aleksandre Davitashvili, PhD Candidate at the Institute for European Studies and invited academic staff at Business and Technology University. After the presentations of the scientific papers the discussant of the session-  Professor Eter Gvineria of the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University together with Prof. Zwolski and Prof. Longhurst reviewed the articles and shared their recommendations to the authors. 

The final – third session of the first day was devoted to the practical tools for student engagement with research practice, where the practical experience had been shared by Marek Martyniszyn, Professor of Law from Queen’s University Belfast, UK. The session was interactive and students as well as academic staff had been provided with the unique opportunity to engage in a thought provoking exercise. 

The opening ceremony of the second day of conference was followed by the fourth session, during which the presentations of scientific papers written for the special JM edition of the bilingual Georgian Journal for European Studies were given by Tamaz Zubiashvili, Associate Professor at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, with the title:  “Some Aspects of Teaching Methodology for Population Course; by Vakhtang Charaia, Professor at Grigol Robakidze University and Mariam Lashkhi, Ph.D. candidate at the East European University about “Innovative FinTech Technologies at Educational Institutions”; by Natia Lapiashvili, Associate Professor at University of Georgia and Caucasian School of Law, Visiting Professor at Tbilisi State University and at Grenoble University and the Head of the Programmes at TSU Institute for European Studies about “Teaching the European Union Law and Related Disciplines in Georgia: The Applied Teaching Methods and Anticipated Learning Outcomes”; by Levan Makhashvili, Associate Professor at European University about “Using Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods in Teaching European Studies in Georgia”; by Tamar Kvaratskhelia, invited lecturer at the Institute for European Studies about “Effective Teaching Methods for EU Fundamental Rights Law”. 

The event was followed by the very interesting and interactive workshop on the topic ‘Publishing in Journals: on How and Why without Taboos’ led by Marek Martyniszyn, Professor of Law from Queen’s University Belfast, UK. 

The keynote speaker of the final sixth session of the conference was Daniela Urse, Professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Bucharest, Co-Head of academic programmes at TSU Institute for European Studies. Prof. Urse shared her expertise in how to build strong research methodologies and strategies to increase the chance of publication (with the focus on the research methodology and an emphasis on strategies to adopt and things to avoid when building methodologies for publishable works). 

After Q&A session and the closing remarks by Nino Lapiashvili, Director of the TSU  Institute for European Studies, the third Erasmus+ Jean Monnet international conference was officially closed.

Information published on TSU website.