Trends & Developments in Higher Education

Free University of Tbilisi

Free University

Can we afford big full pledge university?

• Can Georgia have one at all? (at this point)

• Our economy is not large enough and we are not rich enough for sustainable big full pledge world class university

• The development of truly leading university is a function of economic size and individual wealth

Free University

Amount of Universities vs. GDPxGDPpc (based on ARWU top 500 ranking)

1 21 41 61 81 101 121 141 1611.00E+13

1.00E+14

1.00E+15

1.00E+16

1.00E+17

1.00E+18 668,794,000,000,000,000

117,388,600,000,000,000 163,226,000,000,000,000 190,558,800,000,000,000

128,110,200,000,000,000

51,418,900,000,000,000 71,162,000,000,000,000

95,480,200,000,000,000

18,561,200,000,000,000

47,475,900,000,000,000

14,526,600,000,000,000

66,983,400,000,000,000

6,867,360,000,000,000

1,360,700,000,000,000

27,491,440,000,000,000 32,019,000,000,000,000

18,753,000,000,000,000 15,012,720,000,000,000

25,840,220,000,000,000 20,908,300,000,000,000 21,879,440,000,000,000

4,179,560,000,000,000

12,437,550,000,000,000

6,870,660,000,000,000

23,100,000,000,000,000

13,320,000,000,000,000

7,669,440,000,000,000 5,359,080,000,000,000

47,244,020,000,000,000

2,743,470,000,000,000

1,712,280,000,000,000

4,604,640,000,000,000

1,869,450,000,000,000

5,850,950,000,000,000

11,315,700,000,000,000 7,773,380,000,000,000 7,997,670,000,000,000 6,102,750,000,000,000

2,579,510,000,000,000 1,987,960,000,000,000 1,550,672,000,000,000

GEO

Number of Universities in Ranking

GD

P x

GD

Ppc

Free University

Smallest players

• Smallest economies from QS top 500 ranking:• Lebanon GDP = 28 billion $, GDP per capita = 7300 $• Uruguay GDP = 28,3 billion $, GDP per capita = 9300 $

• Smallest economy from ARWU top 500 ranking:

• Slovenia GDP= 57 billion $, GDP per capita =27,200 $

Free University

What will happen with Universities

• University as business-model was invented more than thousand years ago. This highly integrated business-model was protected by very high entry barriers due to regulation, tradition and technology.

• New technologies and deregulation shall change the business-model, including vertical separation, outsourcing and customization

Free University

Competition vs. Regulation

• Best way to develop the effective tertiary education in Georgia is competition

• Competition should apply to any university• We can achieve more affordable, higher quality

and flexible educational system with prime focus on bachelors degree – the biggest demand for the nation today

• As regulation is the protective against changes, we need a bit of deregulation