19Dec,2022
Diplomatic corps and international organizations at the inauguration of the new rector of Sabauni
A ceremony of new rector’s inauguration was held at the Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani University.
Vaja Vardidze, who has been defining the main course of the university since the establishment of Sabauni until today, presented a brief report of his work to the audience and handed over the reins to the new rector -f. Akaki Chelidze.
The event was opened by the vice-rector of the university, prof. Dimitry Gegenava. The Apostolical Nuncio to Georgia, Jose Avelino Bettencourt, also addressed the audience: "I would like to express my gratitude to Vaja Vardidze for his contribution. He has served the university with exceptional dedication and professionalism for many years... Sabauni is the university that has taken immeasurably great strides at the national and international level during 20 years and has taken an important place in the Georgian and European educational space. I will add here that the Embassy of Holy See always pledges its support to Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani University to fulfill its academic goals.”
As the former rector - Vaja Varidze explained, - "any institution needs renewal to promote its development”, that's why he believes that the new rector will approach the common work with even more enthusiasm and new forces. "The important and challenging years of my life are connected with the establishment and development of Sabauni. The first year of creating the university was very difficult and even more responsible, because there were only a few people working to create the mission of the university, to share the vision and to develop it. We started our history with one faculty and one educational program, and now the university has 5 faculties, we cooperate with 50 universities of more than 30 countries, we have more than 1000 students, more than 100 highly qualified lecturers and, most importantly, we constantly think about development. That is why I believe that the new rector will start our common work with new enthusiasm".
As the new rector of the university, Akaki Chelidze, noted during his speech, for him, it is the main thing to maintain what has been achieved on the one hand, and to promote the development of the institution and for this purpose, implement a new strategy from the other hand: "For me, as the new rector, it is essential to promote the development process of the university and create a space together with the team, where we will add more motivated, educated students raised with the spirit of freedom to the society committed to the principles of human dignity and freedom. At this stage, one of the main challenges of the university is to add the medicine program, which should be considered as a contributing factor to the internationalization process. In addition, the main concern for us is to create affordable living conditions for students. That is why we will soon be able to provide students with dormitories."
The event was attended by the Ambassadors of Poland, Hungary, Holy See, representatives of international organizations, academic staff and students of Sabauni.