The FINANCIAL — One of the top business universities in Georgia, Caucasus University (CU) is going to increase its profits by 20-25 percent in 2009-2010. This is not surprising as tuition fees in general are rising on the Georgian market.
At Caucasus University, at Bachelor level there will be 520 students, out of which 240 students are students of Caucasus School of Business (CSB). At the Master’s level 200 students are going to start studies this year, out of which 70 will be MBA students.
“We have changed the curriculum of the business programs in Caucasus School of Business a little. There is a new project – Caucasus School of Technology, which is going to be preparing IT students. We are starting Master’s degree programmes in media and in law,” George Simongulashvili, Vice President and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs of CSB, told The FINANCIAL.
According to the marketing department of CSB, bachelor degree programs cost USD 4,906. A Dual BBA program in business costs USD 10,590 and there is an executive MBA program for EUR 11,900. The MBA program is going to be USD 14,215 in total, price per course – USD 604.
There are several reasons why tuition fees are rising at business universities. Salaries are increasing in the country, so are the incomes. The business schools are dependent on human potential so if you want to have a really good faculty member you should be prepared to pay a reasonable sum for that.
According to Vice President of CSB in the last three years they have been increasing the number of the international faculty at CSB, so this is another reason. Prices are following the market.
“If we look at the business schools right now I would say that we compete mainly with ESM. In terms of law schools the main top school would be the Law School of Tbilisi State University,” said Mr. Simongulashvili.
This tendency is going to continue for at least four years. This year, as there were no graduates from high schools, universities didn’t raise their prices.
“Next year we expect the demand to be high because a lot of students are going to be graduating from high schools. From 2009 the regulations of administrative education will change and allow the state universities to increase the prices for studies,” claimed Simongulashvili. “This means that private universities will react the same way and there will be no case of price dampening. The competition is increasing for the top business universities because the business community is requiring more sophisticated knowledge to be given to the students.”
In his words, one of the biggest achievements is that they turned from Caucasus School of Business into Caucasus University in 2004 and developed programs in law, media and this year in technology. They were the first business school to get international accreditation within the region.
In 2005 CU started a PhD program which will prepare new specialists. This will increase the level of studies in business universities and foster development.
At Caucasus University the students with the highest GPAs are sent for one semester studies to Georgia State University in Atlanta, the top three are financed totally by CSB. Except this, the university has contracts with about 45 universities over the world and in this semester from CSB 65 students took part in exchange programs. The exchange student structure is quite different. In 99% of these exchange programs the students do not pay any tuition fees. They still pay tuition fees in Tbilisi, but nothing to the foreign universities. Usually students have to pay only for their travelling, food and lodging. This price on average is about EUR one thousand a month.
“Most of our budget goes on development. In 2005 we purchased a huge real estate for USD 1,000,000, currently under reconstruction. We expect to move into the new building in 2009. This will make a huge difference for the students and for the faculty members,” Simongulashvili said.
The whole facility is 10,000 square meters. CU is a private university and is owned by several individuals.
The tendency of choosing foreign universities is quite interesting at CSB. There are 5 students now in South Korea, 3 students in Japan, 3 students in Turkey, 3 students in Riga, 5 in the USA and 2 in Canada.
“So it can’t be said that our students are going only to Europe or the USA,” noted Simongulashvili.
After the new trade pact signed between the European Union and Georgia it will be easier for Georgian students to get visas and more people will have the opportunity to go abroad.
“If the situation in the country doesn’t become stable soon, I assume that not many students will come to study in Georgia,” declared the representative of CU.
Now in the senior bachelor year CSB has about 120 students and 96 are already working. This year 120 students completed their studies and all of them are working. Among the companies are all the leading Georgian banks, oil companies and insurance companies.
“If you go to any company in Georgia, you’ll find at least one CSB graduate student working there,” said Simongulashvili. “With some of these companies we have internships, but not official contracts.”
Today Caucasus University is offering innovative programs to students. CU is developing a school of governance. The university is getting accreditation for Caucasus School of Business from the Central and Eastern European Management Association at the end of 2009.
By Levan Lomtadze
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