The fourth edition of the RiHEI Project Newsletter
Your comprehensive guide to the transformation of Georgian higher education. This newsletter serves as a bridge between our stakeholders and the pioneering initiatives shaping the future of education in Georgia. RiHEI Project stands for Responsible and Impactful Universities as Sustainable Growth and Enterprise Catalysts in Georgia.
The general aim of RiHEI is to transform the Georgian HEI ecosystem into an engine of sustainable and responsible (socially and environmentally) growth for enterprise and job creation by investing in the capabilities of youth and strengthening the connection between education, research, and innovation with private sector needs.
This edition focuses on the structural transformation of university capacity building, rooted in European standards, and advances three key conceptual and operational outputs of the project.
The integration frameworks underpin the edition’s approach to bridging the gap between academic theory and socio-economic impact: EntreComp (Entrepreneurship Competence Framework), which embeds entrepreneurship across all disciplines as a transferable life skill fostering creative thinking and risk management; and DigComp (Digital Literacy), which equips both staff and students with the competencies required to navigate, critically evaluate, and securely process digital content within the modern academic ecosystem.
The Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) framework is further developed in this edition through three operational principles — Open Science, ensuring knowledge accessibility and societal co-participation in research; Global Impact, orienting academic inquiry towards urgent challenges such as climate change and social inequality; and Sustainability through the Train-the-Trainer (TTT) methodology, which creates a multiplier effect enabling institutions to continue developing independently beyond the project's conclusion.
Finally, the Ecosystem Integration Lab (EIL) is introduced as the operational mechanism through which practical institutional capacity is realised, connecting the four pillars of the Quadruple Helix model — Academia, Industry, Government, and Civil Society — to ensure that innovation is embedded within, rather than isolated from, the broader community.
The transition towards this new institutional architecture marks a pivotal moment for Georgian higher education, with RiHEI effectively bridging the gap between Georgian academia and the global educational landscape through the integration of responsible research principles, entrepreneurial frameworks, and the Ecosystem Integration Lab.
The project coordinator is the University of Lodz (Poland), and the consortium members are: Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (Germany), TUM International GmbH (TUMint) — Technical University of Munich (TUM), Kutaisi International University (Georgia), Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (Georgia), and Gori State University (Georgia).
For more information about the project, please visit the official website.
