Kutaisi International University (KIU), the brand new, state-of-the-art, €1 billion university and science hub situated in Georgia’s second city, is kicking off a recruitment drive to attract the “best and brightest” undergraduate students from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Caucasus and Central Asian regions for enrolment in September 2021.
Founded by former Georgian Prime Minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili, KIU opened its doors to a mix of Georgian and international students in 2020. Its aim is to provide a price competitive rival to the very best technical universities in Europe and America. Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are prime recruitment targets for 2021. Announcing the start of KIU’s recruitment drive, Mr Ivanishvili said:
“The scale of our €1 billion investment in KIU points to the scale of our ambition. We want KIU to become a magnet for the very best and brightest students from Russia, Central Asia and the Caucasus. Our goal is to build a world-leading, regional hub for learning, technology and innovation.”
KIU has been specially designed as an ‘international’ university along US and European lines. Its partner university is the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the Best University in Europe in 2020 according to QS World University Rankings.
KIU will offer a fully residential, campus-based education with a close focus on Science and Technology. The course content has been developed in partnership with TUM, which boasts six Humboldt professors in its current staff and 17 Nobel Prizes in its history.
KIU currently offers Bachelor degree programmes in Computer Sciences, Mathematics and Management Studies. State-of-the-art science and medical Research Centres and laboratories are being opened to support Masters, Doctoral, and Post-doctoral programmes.
Research Centres are already attracting leading scientists and investment from around the world. Europe’s leading provider of proton therapy technology for the treatment of cancer, Ion Beam Applications of Belgium, is installing a cyclotron in the University’s medical research centre.
University Chancellor, Magda Magradze, summarised the attractions of KIU:
“Georgia is recognised as a fantastic place to come and live and study. We have state-of-the-art facilities on a greenfield site on the edge of Kutaisi, close to an international airport with connections to all the main countries in the region.
