The decision regarding universities is absolutely political,” assesses Ilia State University Associate Professor Lasha Bakradze the Ministry of Education’s decision to reduce university quotas.

As Bakradze told Interpressnews, the purpose of this decision is not to improve the quality of education, but to strengthen dictatorship.

“There is absolutely no connection to improving the quality of education; they haven’t even approximately said what we should expect as a result of this ‘reform,’ in what condition Georgian higher education institutions and schools will be in 5-10 years. There is no plan whatsoever except to destroy what exists now - of course, first and foremost, Ilia University will be destroyed, because it is considered by them to be a nest of liberalism.

They want the place of freedom to be destroyed, where people are taught free thinking. As is characteristic of dictators, their goal is to create loyalty among professors and teachers to the party’s general line, so that no free voice is heard anywhere - which we see everywhere. This is only a part of that large mosaic that is happening in our country. A great destruction of free, democratic institutions is underway - the institutions we hoped would be the future of our development. Now, the destruction and annihilation of all this is taking place,” stated Lasha Bakradze.