Tbilisi State University:
Oldest university in the Caucasus celebrates 98th anniversary

Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU), the oldest higher education institution in Georgia and the Caucasus, is celebrating its 98th anniversary today.

Established on January 2, 1918 (February 8 according to the new calendar) by a group of Georgia's leading academics, TSU was the first and only university in the region at the time of its founding.

Since then it has grown to its current size of 30,000 local and international students and 3,000 teachers throughout seven faculties. TSU also offered several research laboratories, a library with millions of books and its own publishing house. 

TSU was founded in the first year of the three-year independence of Georgia's first democratic republic. The University’s first two rectors were elected before the 1921 Soviet takeover of the country, which put an end to future elections for the position.

Professor Petre Melikishvili, elected as the first rector of TSU in 1918, was succeeded by founder of the University, academic Ivane Javakhishvili. Soviet authorities relieved Javakhishvili of the position in 1926. The next rector elections did not take place until Georgia's newly gained independence in 1992.

The University was named after Javakhishvili in 1989 to underline the academic's leading role in the founding of the higher education institute.

TSU was ranked highest in the Caucasus according to Webometrics Ranking of World Universities last year.

The Tbilisi-based University offered a wide variety of degree programs at Under-Graduate, Graduate and Doctorate levels, as well as short courses offered in English to attract students from all over the world.