Mari Palelashvili is a 2022 graduate of the TSU Vocational Education Center. After completing the vocational program in Event Management, she became an employee of the Public Relations Department at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University where she now applies the knowledge gained through her studies to planning and implementing university events.

“I believe that the TSU Vocational Education Center fully met my expectations and justified my trust. I even recommended the program to my friends, and many of them are currently studying there. I advised them because I am absolutely sure they will gain very important knowledge and experience, meet interesting people, and have real employment opportunities in a profession that is becoming increasingly in demand in today’s world.” - Says Mari Palelashvili.

Mari had been studying at TSU since 2012. That year, she graduated from the Faculty of Humanities with a degree in Georgian Philology and also completed a program in Journalism and Mass Communication. In 2016, she chose a master’s program at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences. In 2021, eager to explore new opportunities, she once again turned to TSU - this time to master a new profession.  

“Event management was something I started doing and fell in love with at a very young age. Although, I had never thought I could turn it into a profession. During the pandemic, when I finally had enough time to learn something new, I became interested in vocational education and explored the programs the system offered. That’s when I discovered the Event Management program. I didn’t hesitate for a second - I knew right away that I would choose TSU Vocational Education Center because I trusted it and had high expectations.” - Says Mari.

The vocational program also turned out to be crucial for her employment. After completing an internship at the Public Relations Department, she received a job offer.

“I started my new job right after studying at the Vocational Education Center. During the studies, our lecturer, Nana Mamagulishvili, gave us, the students, the opportunity to practice what we were learning within one of the courses and offered us an internship at the Public Relations Department of the University. During the internship, we were actively involved in the planning and organization of various events. I must say that this was a very important part of the learning process because this experience became the most valuable knowledge I acquired. After the internship, I was offered a job at the department, and I was very happy about it because working at the university had long been my desire.”

While studying in the vocational program, Mari highlights the practical aspect of the teaching process and says that this experience helped her most in her profession.

“During my studies, I had lecturers who, I can say out loud, were distinguished by their professionalism and generously shared their experience with us. I am very grateful for this experience and for the many interesting activities they organized for us or that we planned together. The technical side of event management was another very interesting and important component - besides learning about technical requirements, we also studied technical safety in great detail and depth. Ever since, I look at and evaluate events from a completely different perspective. We also received valuable knowledge and experience from Koba Matitashvili, the head of Geo Voice.” - She noted and added - “Besides all that, I think I was very lucky because my classmates were very interesting people from whom I learned a lot.”