Saakashvili Meets Top Performing Students

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili hosted the 10 best first-year students at his vineyard on Monday. The university entrants who gained the highest scores on the Unified National Exams had an opportunity to talk with the president and the Minister of Education and Science (MES), Dimitri Shashkin. Most of the students were enrolled on courses in engineering and the natural sciences thus the president discussed the advantage of their future professions for Georgia.

“You embody the successful implementation of the government's vision with your scores on the Unified National Exams,” Saakashvili told his guests stressing that the exams are the result of major reforms carried out in Georgia. The president praised the students for choosing the professions which the government has been trying to encourage for the last several years. “We need specialists who can feed us and help to build the country,” Saakashvili said suggesting that “we should do everything ourselves” instead of bringing in goods from other countries. “The fact that the ten best students have chosen technical subjects means that we have started moving in the right direction,” said the president.

The meeting was arranged in a very informal way at Saakashvili’s vineyard which the president had bought in the Kakheti region for GEL 30,000. Three months ago construction of a house on the property began. The first-year students were the first guests to visit the president’s new land. Saakashvili awarded the students with personal computers and gave them recommendations for their future activities. As a first task the president suggested the students make personal computer programs for the school-children which the MES would purchase and introduce to school programs in future.

Courses on information technologies and math have been the most desired fields this year. Prior to this year's exams, engineering and natural science subjects had been most in demand statistically as these subjects saw increasing application rates. Around 40% of university entrants enrolled on these courses at the Unified National Exams in 2011.