The Spring Semester of the 2024-2025 academic year at Sokhumi State
University is distinguished by an important innovation - the teaching of two
new academic courses has started simultaneously:
- „Georgian Peace Paradigm and EU
Peacebuilding“, which was implemented this year for undergraduate students
within the framework of the Jean Monnet Module EUPEACE of the ERASMUS+
Programme (ERASMUS-JMO-2024-HEI-TCH-RSCH–EUPEACE, project N101175481). The
course is mandatory for students majoring in Political Science and optional for
students of any other programme;
- „Corporate Social Responsibility in the
European Union“, which was launched in the Spring Semester of the 2023-2024
academic year within the framework of the Jean Monnet Module CSREU
(ERASMUS-JMO-2022-HEI-TCH-RSCH-CSREU, project N101083295) (Manager and Academic Leader -
Professor Larisa Takalandze). The Course is mandatory for students of the
Business Administration program and optional for students of any other program
at the University.
The Academic Leader of the Course „Georgian Peace Paradigm and EU
Peacebuilding“ is the author of the idea of University Diplomacy, the Rector
of the University, Professor Zurab Khonelidze. The project is 3-year and will
be implemented in 2024-2027. The Jean Monnet Module EUPEACE envisages the
introduction of a new course for undergraduate students, the development of a
textbook and a Summer School for both undergraduate and graduate students, as
well as research and a number of events in this direction. The main goal of the
EUPEACE module is to develop teaching about peacebuilding, share the Georgian
Peace Paradigm of and the best experience of the EU in this field, and improve
the quality of educational programs through teaching, research and debates in
the field of European integration.
The aim of the Jean Monnet Module „Corporate Social Responsibility in the
European Union“ CSREU teaching course is to introduce students to the essence, forms, main trends and
problems of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the European Union, the EU’s CSR policy; to develop their ability to
conduct comparative analysis and apply the acquired knowledge in practice,
which will contribute to Georgia's integration with the European Union.
We would also like to note that Sokhumi State University became a
beneficiary of the Jean Monnet Module for the first time in 2022 by obtaining
the Jean Monnet Module CSREU. Within the framework of the 3-year project
(2022-2025), the text-book „Corporate Social Responsibility in the European Union“ was published in
2024 https://zenodo.org/records/10775964
Improving the quality of Education, generating new knowledge, raising a
highly qualified, competitive generation, and constantly searching for
innovations - all events and activities envisaged by the project are oriented
towards these values.
In general, the Jean Monnet
Higher Education Teaching and Research Programme aims to improve teaching and
research on the European Union worldwide and to foster dialogue between
academia and the wider public, including policy makers at local, regional,
national and EU levels, civil servants, civil society actors, the media and
representatives of different levels of education. The aim is to raise awareness
and build relevant knowledge about EU policies, as well as to strengthen the
role of the EU at global level, including beyond academia and specialist
groups, in order to bring the essence of the EU closer to the public. The Jean
Monnet Higher Education Teaching and Research Programme also serves the purpose
of public diplomacy in third countries and to raise awareness of and make the
EU’s values more visible.
Thus, the Jean Monnet Activities focus mainly on the integration of the
European dimension into Higher Education; it was launched in 1989 and takes its name from the famous
French Statesman, one of the „architects“ of the European Union. Currently, the
activities of the program extend to 78 countries, and the educational network
includes more than 800 Universities. Since 2013, the Jean Monnet program has
been integrated into the Erasmus+ program.
Sokhumi State University will continue to work purposefully to attract Jean
Monnet Activities and other projects in the future.