Ilia State University is a state university, and in such cases, the university administration cannot make political statements, – this is what Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze stated.

According to his assessment, the leadership of Ilia State University is following the same lexicon used by the radical opposition. In addition, according to the Prime Minister, they have still not heard a single argument against the concept that implies the principle of “one city – one faculty.”

“As for Ilia University, I personally cannot understand the attitude of this university’s leadership. Leaving everything else aside, Ilia University is a state university, and in such circumstances, the university administration cannot come out with political statements. In general, no university – neither private nor state – should be politicized. But, for example, when the university head comes out and says that ‘Georgian Dream created the concept,’ meaning they are following exactly the same lexicon as the radical opposition – can the leadership of a state university do such a thing? They should not get involved in political processes; their desire should be substantive discussion on all topics. Personally, I suggested to the university leadership, to the rector of the university, that within two days they go and hold a protest action directly led by the university administration at Ilia State University. This is not a healthy attitude; with such an attitude, the processes cannot develop in the right direction.

We have a concept, and this concept is based on specific arguments. You probably saw the debates and would have noticed that against the concept we developed… Simply put, what is the difference between a conclusion and an argument? A conclusion is essentially followed by the question ‘what.’ We understood what they think – they think they don’t like the concept. But as for the argument, it is followed by the question ‘why,’ and we still couldn’t understand why. We couldn’t understand why they don’t like it. Accordingly, under such conditions, there is no point in continuing the discussion. When you don’t bring a single argument against the concept, against its specific points – you had two hours to do so and didn’t bring a single argument – in such conditions, of course, it is difficult to continue the discussion.

We are ready, in the case of any university, to listen to arguments and enter into a healthy discussion if we see readiness for it. We had a meeting with the leadership of the Technical University, and perhaps in that discussion we agreed on some things and disagreed on others, but overall we formed an impression and drew the conclusion that at this particular moment, and in general, it was not expedient to merge the Technical University with TSU, and we made that decision. This is the result of a healthy discussion,” – stated Kobakhidze.