The FINANCIAL — “As long as you stay focused on quality, education generally weathers economic crises better than other sectors”, says Michael Cowgill, President of Georgian American University. GAU and Caucasus University management remain optimistic for positive changes in Georgia.
“Of course, the upside potential is limited”, says Michael Cowgill. “GAU’s priority is to continue to improve the quality of its educational programs. We will continue to invest in those systems and processes which add to the quality of our programmes. Those also include additional training for staff and lecturers”.
“Almost all of GAU’s CSR projects are ongoing”, says the President of Georgian American University. “Our spheres are rather diverse. However, being a university, our major focus is on the youth of Georgia and education”.
“Classic CSR defines 4 levels: economic (be profitable); legal (obey the law); ethical (do what is right); and philanthropic (be a good citizen). GAU has always strived to continually meet the first 3 levels. As to the philanthropic projects, GAU has participated in AmCham Georgia, Georgian Business Ethics Association, AESIC Georgia (student organizations), Job-fair co-sponsor, Business Olympiad co-sponsor, UN Global Compact Programme, Mziuri Park “Children’s Day”, Bodbe’s Orphanage Clothing Drive, Tuition discounts for IDP’s from recent S. Ossetian conflict, Scholarships for Georgian students to study abroad, Financial support for Georgian academic teams to compete abroad, Pro-bono classes for recent parolees from prison
“GAU’s mission statement is “To provide an educational programme of the highest academic and ethical standards that is valuable to the business, legal and governmental communities”.
Cowgill says the management strategy is to run the university like a business by meeting the needs of the clients, employees and owners. The real clients of GAU are those organizations that hire our graduates
“To the biggest extent possible, we implement a policy called “internal marketing” which means to treat employees like clients. Senior management has the responsibility for HR and for understanding the wants and needs of each staff member. We participate in wage surveys to ensure we are competitive in our wages and also provide benefits that are of value to the employees”, Cowgill says.
In his words the only effect that GAU has seen is an increase in the number of students requesting extended payment plans for tuition, in part due to delays in student loans from some of the banks.
“We have had no staff reduction”, says Cowgill. “We have not decreased our salaries, and plan on passing on the reduction in income taxes to our employees. The salaries of lecturers continue to increase, mainly due to the high demand for good quality lecturers. In fact we are now hiring some new administrative staff due to the increase in our law school facilities”.
”GAU will add only those programmes that we believe are financially viable and necessary to the business and legal climate in Georgia, such as our new Logistics Management Institute, Real Estate School and Legal Clinical Programme.”
Another leading business school in Georgia Caucasus University is the member of member of the Global Compact. “Our CSR projects have been mostly short-term”, says Tiko Gugberidze, CU. “We make investments in environment protection, refugees aid”.
Gugberidze says CU didn’t have any staff reductions. “We also hope that we will not have to do that in the near future”. “And we have not decreased our payroll budget”, she said.
“Unfortunately, due to the global financial crisis, we have to reduce our budget for non-corporate events, but that’s a reality for almost all companies operating not only on the Georgian, but also on the global market”.
“The main priority for our company remains financial investment within the company. The main objectives for the year 2009 are new product development, and even though we have new challenges which correlate with the overall world financial crisis, and which might affect our sales, we are hoping for the best. Caucasus University (CU) mission is to stimulate, encourage and facilitate up-to date, worldwide accepted, innovative initiatives in teaching and research. CU strives to disseminate ideas and skills of global significance, regional importance and lasting value in the South Caucasus region”.
“Our company’s management strategy is mainly oriented towards corporate development, innovative product development, and exploration of new markets”, Gugberidze says.
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