A graduation ceremony for the graduates of doctoral programs was held under the auspices of the International Doctoral School of Ilia State University** as part of the concluding event of the Carl Friedrich Lehmann-Haupt International Doctoral Program* at Ilia State University on October 5.

At the opening of the event, the graduates of the doctoral program were addressed by:

• Prof. Dr. Nino Doborjginidze, Rector of Ilia State University
• Prof. Maya Shukhoshvili, Head of Higher Education Division of the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia
• Prof. Dr. Levan Izoria, Ambassador of Georgia to Germany
• Prof. Dr. Anke Holler, Vice President of the University of Göttingen
• Dr. Matthias Nöllenburg, Program Director of the Volkswagen Foundation

The speaker of the International Doctoral School, Professor Nino Pataraia and the head of the Development Office, Ketevan Darakhvelidze, introduced the main achievements and plans of the International Doctoral School to the audience.

The audience was addressed by Nana Khetsuriani, a doctoral student in the Business Administration program of the International Doctoral School of Ilia State University, and Professor Oliver Reisner, the representative of the scientific supervisors of the International Doctoral School.

Professor Nino Doborjginidze, the Rector of Ilia State University, awarded Professor Achim Dorenbusch with the Ilia Medal for his special contribution to the development of the International Doctoral School.

At the concluding event, in which representatives of partner German universities, the diplomatic corps, the Ministry of Education, the non-governmental sector and donor organizations participated, the foundation for a significant tradition was laid – we awarded the graduates of the doctoral programs of the 2021-2022 academic year of Ilia State University in a ceremonial setting:

Faculty of Arts and Sciences

• Tamar Amashukeli, Doctor of Philology
• Dachi Taktakishvili, Doctor of Musical Arts
• Revaz Kiknadze, Doctor of Musical Arts
• Tamar Mikadze, Doctor of Arts
• Ketevan Razmadze, Doctor of Musical Arts
• Ketevan Rcheulishvili, Doctor of Sociology
• Anna Chkuaseli, Doctor of Philology

Faculty of Natural Sciences and Medicine

• Galina Goloshvili, Doctor of Biochemistry
• Ekaterine Gabashvili, Doctor of Biochemistry
• Nino Gogokhia, Doctor of Life Sciences
• Zurab Vashalomidze, Doctor of Physics
• Giorgi Tedoradze, Doctor of Ecology
• Sergo Kapanadze, Doctor of Physics
• Nino Lomidze, Doctor of Life Sciences
• Giorgi Mikeladze, Doctor of Life Sciences
• Lasha Sukhishvili, Doctor of Geography
• Natalia Togonidze, Doctor of Life Sciences
• Kazanji Oruch Jeren, Doctor of Ecology
• Zafarul Islami Mohammad, Doctor of Ecology

Faculty of Business, Technology and Education

• Vakhtang Berishvili, Doctor of Business Administration
• Davit Gamkrelidze, Doctor of Business Administration
• Ekaterine Slovinski, Doctor of Education
• Eka Tkavashvili, Doctor of Education

Ilia State University congratulates the graduates of doctoral programs on their success.

About the International Doctoral School and Carl Friedrich Lehmann-Haupt Doctoral Program

* The International Doctoral School of Ilia State University, with its partner European higher education institutions, ensures the development of double-degree doctoral programs of high academic quality.

** The first major project of the school was the Carl Friedrich Lehmann-Haupt International Doctoral Program (LHIDP), which was launched in 2018 in cooperation with the Georg- August University of Göttingen and with the support of Volkswagen and the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation.

The program covered 10 different areas: philology, history, political science, religious and cultural studies, development economics, ecology, chemical biology, physics and cosmology.

Doctoral students of the program were supervised by Georgian and German professors, and upon successful completion of the doctoral project degrees were awarded by both Georgian and German universities.

12 doctoral students had the opportunity to spend 2 semesters at the Georg-August University of Göttingen.

The success of the program led to the following successful steps of the International Doctoral School:

• 2 structured double-degree doctoral programs were developed in cooperation with the Georg-August University and the Westphalian Wilhelms University Münster (Germany);
• A double doctoral degree was awarded with the support of the doctoral school and in cooperation with Ghent University (Belgium);
• Currently, work is underway on granting a double degree on the basis of an individual agreement (Cotoutelle) in cooperation with Montpellier (France) and other leading European universities (Hanover, Leuven).

The experience and standards of the International Doctoral School and the Carl Friedrich Lehmann-Haupt International Doctoral Program (LHIDP) have been fully extended to the doctoral level of Ilia State University, including the Georgian language programs. It became possible to offer courses focused on the development of both subject- methodological and transferable skills for doctoral students to improve the skills of working on doctoral research and to ensure academic advancement.