A ceremony of awarding TSU Honorary Doctorates and University Medal was held at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU) on February 9 as part of events marking the 100th anniversary of TSU. Rector of TSU, Giorgi Sharvashidze; Minister of Education and Science, Mikheil Chkhenkeli; Georgian and foreign professors, students attended the event. “Honorary Doctorates have been awarded to the representatives of our partner universities, rectors of the world’s top universities, famous scientists who are promoting the development of relations with our university,” Rector Giorgi Sharvashidze said.
TSU Honorary Doctorates were awarded to the rectors of seven European and American universities as well as professors of three universities, among them Rector of the University of Cologne (Germany), Prof. Axel Freimuth; Rector of Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Germany), Prof. Dr. Walter Rosenthal; Rector of the University of Vilnius (Lithuania), Artūras Žukauskas; Rector of the University of Porto (Portugal), Prof. Sebastião Feyo de Azevedo; Rector of the University of A Coruña (Spain), Prof. Julio Abalde; Prof. William Tong of San Diego State University (USA); Director of the Veksler and Baldin Laboratory of High Energy Physics at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Vladimir Kekelidze; Director of the Institute of International Peace and Security Law at the University of Cologne and Professor of Public International Law and Criminal Law, Claus Kress; Professor Günter Faltin of Free University Berlin; the gown and the parchment of former Rector of the University of Tartu (Estonia), Volli Kalm was handed over to the university representative. The University Medal was awarded to Claus Hipp, German entrepreneur and philanthropist, for his special contribution to the development of TSU.
“The Tbilisi State University and the University of Cologne have been cooperating for years. Our collaboration helped many students participate in exchange programs. The Tbilisi State University belongs to the top 2% of the worlds best universities and I am sure that this figure will further improve,” Rector of the University of Cologne, TSU Honorary Doctor, Prof. Axel Freimuth said.
“TSU will become a hub for several new projects. The representation of the European Academy will be opened at TSU and it will cover the entire region. In addition, the American Chemical Society will be founded at TSU. It is the top level accreditation agency that will grant the U.S.-standard accreditation to those universities that offer chemistry programs,” Rector Giorgi Sharvashidze said.
Later on February 9, the Memorandums of Cooperation were signed with three European universities (Tallinn, Saarland and Friedrich Schiller University Jena).
