RiHEI - Responsible and Impactful Universities as Sustainable Growth and Enterprise Catalysts in Georgia

The general aim of RiHEI is to transform the Georgian HEI ecosystem into an engine of sustainable and responsible (socially, environmentally) growth for enterprise and job creation by investing in the capabilities of youth and better connecting education, research and innovation with private sector needs. This will be achieved by placing HEIs as “engaged” transformational actors of the country’s economic ecosystem (via quadruple helix-led responsible innovation coproduction and public-private impact investment), facilitating youth entrepreneurship, boosting STEAM skills and triggering ecosystem development (clusters synergies) that fully integrate vulnerable communities as well as remote & rural areas. This will be achieved via the following general objectives (GOs): GO1: Modernise, internationalise and increase access to Georgian higher education for next generation labour market actors with emphasis on equal opportunities, gender sensitivity and the inclusion of marginalised (including better services to students from remote/rural areas). GO2: Address the challenges faced by Georgian HEIs towards becoming a transformational engine of sustainable and responsible (environmentally, socially) engine of growth, jobs and enterprise creation by radically transforming how innovation production is being performed within universities and by training HEIs to become quadruple helix ecosystem mobilisers, while bringing youth closer to STEAM. GO3: Increase cooperation with the EU by developing a network of HEI capacity building provision, staff exchange and multi-ecosystem co-creation and by motivating Georgian HEIs to voluntarily converge with EU standards in higher education while promoting cross-societal exchange and collaboration, intercultural awareness, and understanding.