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The Impact of Recent Legislation on Higher Education in Georgia

By Clara Tonecker & Lora Fekete
13–20 minutes
1. Introduction

Georgian Dream, Georgia’s ruling political party, has transformed since its first election in 2012, and simultaneously transformed Georgia’s relationship with the European Union (EU) and Russia. While previously social issues and EU integration were on the political agenda, it has shifted towards strengthening conservative and anti-Western narratives (Kandelaki, 2024). This is shown by the series of repressive legislations that have been passed or announced recently that restrict freedom of assembly, expression, and the press (The Path to Dictatorship: Review of Georgian Dream’s Recent Repressive Legislative Initiatives, 2025). Since the announcement of the election results on the 28th of October 2024, confirming the re-election of Georgian Dream, protesters have gathered every day in front of the parliament in Tbilisi, accusing the party of electoral fraud. According to informal interviews conducted with the European Union Monitoring Mission to Georgia (EUMM), the German Embassy in Tbilisi and Maisi News (an independent news portal), particularly students are protesting, while a few universities have publicly spoken against Georgian Dream and its political shift. This is why this article aims to explain the impact of recent legislation on the higher education system in Georgia. Firstly, the political context of Georgia will be described, followed by our research methodology and our findings. The findings are categorised by each chosen law, meaning the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence, the Foreign Agents Registration Act, the Law on Protection of Family Values and Minors, the decision to suspend the EU accession until 2028, changes in operational governance at universities, and the education reform. Lastly, the survey results will be analysed.

2. Research Methodology

The main field research method used during the excursion to Tbilisi was informal Q&A sessions during organisational visits. These sessions were used to ask questions about the organisation’s perspective and knowledge regarding the impact of recent legislation on higher education in Georgia. Additionally, representatives were approached to participate in a semi-structured interview to get more in-depth insights. The first interview was conducted anonymously to protect the interviewee and their organisation. The second interview was conducted with Rebecca Linnhoff, the political, cultural and press attaché at the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Tbilisi. An interview guide was prepared and sent in advance. Furthermore, a survey about students’ perceptions of the impact of recent legislation on higher education was distributed among students at GIPA and published on an online student portal. Due to limited time and access, it was only possible to acquire 17 responses, which makes the results not generalisable. Nevertheless, they will be presented in the findings. Lastly, all information received from the organisations is backed up with sources found during desk research. Since the topic is very recent, this article cites mostly newspaper sources, for instance, Civil Georgia, which is a project by the UN Association of Georgia, and was deemed by the authors as one of the more reliable Georgian news sources.

3. Political context of Georgia

3.1 Short Overview of Georgia

Georgia is a country located in the Caucasus region with approximately five million citizens (The World Factbook, 2025). The population is ethnically diverse, including Georgian, Armenian, and Ossetian. The territory of the country is 12,560 km2, of which 18% is occupied by Russia. The economy of Georgia depends on its tourism and the agricultural sector (European Commission, 2024). The majority of the Georgian population lives in the capital, Tbilisi (see Figure 1) (Socio-economic and Territorial Disparities in Georgia, 2017), where most political and economic processes take place. Therefore, the rural areas and other cities are not as developed as Tbilisi. This tendency can be seen in the higher education sector as well. Out of 74 universities, 47 are located in the capital, causing a difference in the opportunities available within the country (Socio-economic and Territorial Disparities in Georgia, 2017).

Figure 1

Distribution of the Georgian population by region, 2017


Note. Taken from Socio-economic and Territorial Disparities in Georgia, 2017.

3.2 Public Perception of Georgian Dream

Figure 2 shows the attitude of the voters towards the Georgian Dream party before the 2024 parliamentary election (Turmanidze & Chkhetiani, 2024). The positive prediction is due to the composition of the voters: the majority of the voters were religious people, rural residents, public employees, or older citizens. In the elections, Georgian Dream received 53.9% of the votes, mostly from the rural areas. Due to the irregularities, including vote manipulation during the election, the European Parliament does not recognise the parliamentary elections and prescribes a new election within a year (European Parliament, 2024). The parliamentary election was not considered either free or fair. After the election, to show their dissatisfaction, the opposition boycotted, and the public protested against the results (Galt & Taggart, 2024). 

Figure 2 

Attitude of voters before the parliamentary elections in 2024

Note. Taken from Election Pulse of Georgia: Exploring Voter Attitudes by K. Turmanidze & L. Chkhetiani, 2024, p. 11. 

An impactful tool for manipulation used by the state was the media, which had a strong effect on the results of the parliamentary election. On the commercial TV, which is the main available information channel in rural areas, Georgian Dream propaganda was shown. The reason for this is the financial dependence of media channels on the party-aligned stakeholders (International Election Observation Mission, n.d.).

The election results and the passing of the law on Transparency of Foreign Influence resulted in mass protests, in which young people played a significant role (Khoshtaria & Pfeilschifter, 2024). The sense of injustice motivated students to participate in the protest. Furthermore, observations showed that citizens who support the EU membership of Georgia tend to support and participate in the protests. The protests are still ongoing.

4. Findings

4.1 Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence

The Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence proposed by Georgian Dream aims to regulate the foreign influence within the country (Mills, 2024). After a previous veto was overturned, the law was passed on the 28th of May 2024. According to the law, non-governmental organisations and media agencies partially financed by foreign governments or companies are obligated to register as “organisations serving the interest of a foreign power”. As highlighted, the received support has to be over 20% of the annual revenue, which includes financial as well as non-financial assets. (Venice Commission, 2024, Article 2.2)

The opposition calls this law the ‘Russian law’, seemingly inspired by Russia, where every civil society organisation receiving foreign financial support is seen as a foreign agent. The law is useful for the government to conduct investigations of registered non-governmental organisations. According to the law, every organisation is obligated to provide information that the Ministry of Justice finds necessary to have access to, including confidential data. This includes personal information of individuals such as sexuality, ethnicity, political views, as well as the organisation’s membership in trade unions.

In case of rejection of cooperation with the government authorities or failure to provide required information in time, administrative penalties are implemented (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, 2024). The difference between the amounts of fines is relatively high, ranging from 5,000 to 25,000 GEL (1,600-8,000 EUR) (Phirtskhalashvili, 2024). For instance, individuals in the non-governmental sector receive a fine five times greater than public officials for the same violation. However, as the visited institutions mentioned, due to the recent legislation of the law, the framework of the procedure is still uncertain. The legislation resulted in international criticism and multiple protests (Uberi, 2024).

The interviewed representative of GIPA mentioned that the law may have a more significant impact on universities in the future, including the funding of private universities. Considering that in 2016/2017, 73% of all available universities were private institutions, this could strongly influence the higher education sector. Furthermore, the students who participated in our survey believe that the funding of higher education and research projects will decrease.

4.2 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)

The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), approved by the Georgian Parliament on the 3rd of March 2025, is a revised version of the ‘Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence’ (Civil Georgia, 2025). Compared to the previous transparency law, the Georgian FARA is more restrictive due to public dissatisfaction and non-compliance of NGOs and media agencies with the Transparency Law (The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, 2025). This law is considered a reproduction of the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (Committee to Protect Journalists, 2025). The main idea of the US FARA is to be transparent about the purpose of organizations acting on behalf of foreign governments or entities and how they influence the politics of the US (U.S. Department of Justice, n.d.). However, compared to the US FARA, the FARA in Georgia applies to civil society groups and media agencies as well.

One of the main changes is related to which organisations and individuals are targeted by the law. Not only non-governmental organisations and media agencies, but partnerships, associations, corporations, and individuals are obligated to register as ‘foreign agents’ (Civil Georgia, 2025). Therefore, more organisations are forced to provide documents for the registration process. A significant concern is the Anti-Corruption Bureau, which controls and oversees the implementation of the law, because it is aligned with the Georgian Dream party (Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, 2025). Therefore, it is not an independent entity.

The consequences of non-compliance are harsher compared to the previous transparency law, including criminal penalties such as imprisonment, a fine, or a combination of both (The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, 2025). Not providing the required documents or rejecting cooperation with the government authorities leads to up to 10,000 GEL (= 3260 EUR) in criminal fines and/or a maximum five-year prison sentence.

4.3 Law on Protection of Family Values and Minors

The Law on the Protection of Family Values and Minors, also called the “anti-LGBTQ” law, was adopted in September 2024 and prohibits the legal recognition of same-sex couples and transgender persons and impedes their access to healthcare (Throssell, 2024). Furthermore, according to representatives of the German Embassy and Maisi News, this law requires schools, universities and other educational institutions to censor LGBT-promoting elements from all material used in classes. Rebecca Linnhoff, the political, cultural and press attaché at the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Tbilisi, said in an interview that “this law is actually the one that might affect the education system the most”. She said that while it remains to be seen how this law will be implemented, a few German international schools have already begun to review their materials. 

4.4 Decision to suspend EU accession
The decision to suspend the EU accession impacts universities and other higher education institutions in several ways. For instance, the EU funding might be terminated in the future; however, in the case of GIPA, the EU fundraising stream has not yet been suspended. Representatives of GIPA also voiced concerns regarding diploma recognition in the EU. In April 2025, Georgia’s National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement (NCEQE) was removed from the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR) (Georgia officially removed from European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education, 2025). The appointment of Tamar Makharashvili as the Deputy Minister of Education of Georgia is considered a conflict of interest because he holds a political role in government, therefore endangering the Center’s independence (Georgia’s education system faces major setback as EQAR suspends accreditation, citing “political concerns”, 2024). After an evaluation by the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), the NCEQE was called a mechanism to exert political pressure on universities. If Georgia loses ENQA membership, significant consequences for the higher education system will follow, for instance, diploma recognition issues abroad and disruption of joint international educational programs. Furthermore, the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) might revoke its recognition of Georgian medical degrees, which would question their validity abroad (Suspension from EQAR and ENQA Threatens Georgia’s Higher Education Reputation, Experts Warn, 2024).


4.5 Changes in university governance

According to an internal report by the German Embassy in Tbilisi, they observed concerning developments regarding operational governance of universities. For instance, students at Batumi University protested the appointment of the new rector and Georgian Dream member Tite Aroshidze (GD Member Tite Aroshidze Elected Rector of Batumi University Despite Students’ Protest, 2025). The Ilia State University in Tbilisi, where students and professors have been particularly outspoken against the Georgian Dream government and its recent laws, was only granted “conditional accreditation” in September 2024 despite passing all standards with high marks. This meant it had to be monitored for one year, which education experts viewed as an attempt to control and repress the university’s professors and students more (Ilia State University Raises Alarm About Authorization Council Granting it “Conditional Accreditation”, 2024). For example, the rector Nino Doborjginidze is actively supporting Georgia’s path towards EU membership. After the university’s appeal and a months-long dispute, the Authorisation Council has granted a six-year unconditional authorisation in March 2025 (Ilia State University Granted Six Year Authorization Following Months-Long Dispute, 2025). 


4.6. State Commission for University Reform

In January 2025, a new state commission for university reform was announced to fundamentally renew the higher education system within the next 4 years. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze will be the chairman, Education Minister Aleksandre Tsuladze the deputy chair, and the Prime Minister’s Advisor on Education and Science and former Minister of Defence Levan Izoria will be the secretary of the commission. The push for reform can be explained by the number of students protesting and university professors publicly criticising the Georgian Dream government (Kobakhidze Announces State Commission to Reform Universities, 2025). According to Rebecca Linnhoff, the main concern with this new commission is that university representatives have been excluded so far. The commission had its first meeting in mid-March 2025. However, she states that they announced that they will discuss their first plans with academics soon.

4.7 Survey Results

Students were asked how they perceived the influence of recent laws and the estrangement from the EU on higher education. The survey was completed by 17 students at GIPA, the majority enrolled in a bachelor’s programme. While the results are non-generalisable, they are nevertheless interesting. 16 out of 17 students perceived an influence, 9 of those a strong one (see Figure 4). When asked to explain their answer, those who perceived a strong influence named fear that exchange programmes might be suspended, fewer opportunities for scholarships or research grants from EU institutions, and the removal of “LGBT propaganda” from university courses and study materials, which affects, for example, gender studies. One student named an increasing risk of GIPA students being stigmatised as government propaganda directly targeted the university, calling it a “hotbed for American agents”. When asked which areas are most influenced, the majority perceived changes in student exchanges and collaboration, university governance, and study materials (see Figure 5). 82% of respondents believe that the funding for research and higher education will decrease in the future (see Figure 6). 88% of respondents perceive the recent laws as restricting academic freedom (see Figure 7).

Figure 4

In your opinion, have political decisions since the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War influenced the higher education system?

Note. In this survey, recent political decisions refer to Georgia’s political shift and estrangement from the EU, primarily showcased by the Law on the Transparency of Foreign Influence (also called the ‘foreign agents law’), the Law on the Protection of Family Values and Minors, and the decision to suspend Georgia’s EU accession process until 2028.

Figure 5

In your opinion, which areas of the higher education system are most influenced by recent political decisions?

Figure 6

In your opinion, to what extent will recent political decisions affect funding for higher education and research in Georgia in the future?

Figure 7

In your opinion, to what extent do recent political decisions affect academic freedom in Georgia?

5. Conclusion

In conclusion, the case of Georgia is an excellent example to demonstrate how international relations and internal politics of a country can influence the higher education system. Censoring the learning materials to represent national values, hardening the circumstances of teachers and professors, and undermining international diploma recognition are a few of the many challenges students and university staff face. Furthermore, obstacles in the funding of private universities and the threat to academic freedom cause serious concerns. However, the mass protests, where teachers and students participate as well, are a strong reflection of the public opinion and urgent calls for change.

Reference List

While we are transparent about all sources used in this article and double-checked all the given information, we make no claims about its completeness, accuracy or reliability. If you notice a mistake or misleading phrasing, please contact centuriasa@hhs.nl .

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