The goal of the USAID "Education for the Future" project is to improve the quality of the general education system in Georgia and ensure its inclusiveness. The program supports the Government of Georgia in the direction of raising the quality of teacher training and education programs in educational sciences, developing the capabilities of educational leaders, and strengthening school autonomy.

As part of USAID Education for the Future, Chemonics International and Arizona State University (ASU) will work closely with partner universities in Georgia to ensure the quality and inclusiveness of teacher education programs and educational sciences programs. To achieve this goal, the project will help universities to improve and develop training courses, improve the teaching and research skills of academic staff, provide access to modern literature, and involve university academic staff and students in local and international partnerships.

The Arizona State University (ASU) team, in close collaboration with the project's university team, will conduct an analysis of teacher education programs. The purpose of the said analysis will be to reveal the needs for improvement of the programs and the opportunities for further development in cooperation with the academic staff and administration of the universities. Based on the results of the analysis, Arizona State University (ASU) will develop recommendations for both short-term and long-term interventions aimed at improving the quality of teacher education programs.

The university support program will be implemented in two main stages: Stage I covers the 1st and 2nd years of program implementation, and Stage II - the 3rd and 4th years of program implementation.

• In the first phase, Arizona State University will assist partner universities in refining and developing core courses. During the first year, USAID Education for the Future will work with partner universities in Georgia to integrate Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles into university programs, improve partnerships and pedagogical practices between universities and schools, and create jointly defined core courses.
• In the second phase, Arizona State University (ASU) will continue to support each university and facilitate their establishment as successful practice centers (Centers of Excellence) in the direction of specific areas of expertise selected by them, for example, teaching pedagogy in minority languages; specific methodologies for teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM); formative assessment; inclusive education; digital learning-teaching; partnerships between universities and schools; Pedagogical practice research; Educational leadership or other.

Within the framework of the university support program, successful practice centers in Georgia are planned to join the "Learning Futures Collaboratives (LFC)" platform based at Arizona State University (ASU). The primary goal of this association is to promote a future-oriented, innovative ideas-based, high-impact research agenda among academic staff and students.

Academic staff and students from universities in Georgia, along with colleagues from Arizona State University (ASU), will actively engage in discussions, research projects, and exchange of ideas and experiences on a variety of topics, including teaching and pedagogy. Arizona State University (ASU) will support the establishment of peer-reviewed journals and editorial boards based on successful Centers of Practice. Methodological and theoretical articles, commentaries and literature reviews will be published in the mentioned journal(s).

For other additional details and updates about the project, please go to the link.

Georgian universities participating in the project:

Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University;

Akaki Tsereteli State University;

Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University;

Saint Andrews Georgian University- წმ. ანდრიას ქართული უნივერსიტეტი