A total of 162 of Georgia’s top scoring students on the country’s national NAEC exam have chosen to study at ISET, constituting the third intake of first-year students for the institute’s BA program. The number of students set to graduate in 2023 is clearly indicative of the prestige and popularity of ISET degrees, and the figure has doubled since the second generation of BA students began their studies in 2018.
That ISET offers the most economic programs in the South Caucasus is well-known, and while the institute regularly welcomes students from all across Georgia (as well as from neighboring Azerbaijan and Armenia) on both its MA and BA programs, this year ISET has attracted students from as far away as Germany and South Korea. In fact, the class of 2023 will have no fewer than nine nationalities within its ranks.
The country’s extensive mountainous regions are justly famous and a particular point of focus for travel writers and producers, but their touristic appeal is somewhat offset by the lack of development, especially when compared with the capital or other major cities. In recent years, the government has attempted to address this disparity, but a significant amount of work remains to be done.
This was the focus of a presentation given by the APRC’s Salome Gelashvili at the National Conference on Regional Development, held at the Holiday Inn hotel on September 18th. During her presentation, Salome examined the shortcomings in the development of the country’s mountainous regions, and how these might be best addressed.