Academics have raised fears that Georgian higher education could face ¡°complete isolation¡± from the European Union after the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party claimed victory in?last month¡¯s parliamentary elections, a?result contested by?the country¡¯s pro-EU opposition.

The poll followed an unexpectedly tight referendum result in?Moldova, in?which voters backed EU?membership by an?exceptionally slim margin.

Diana Lezhava, a research fellow in higher education at Georgia¡¯s Center for Social Sciences, said a fourth term for the populist GD?party could see the country at risk of ¡°international isolation, further violation of human rights, mass emigration of young people and even harsher economic and democratic backsliding¡±. A broken relationship with the EU, she warned, could result in ¡°Georgian higher education [being] cut off¡± from schemes including Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe, ¡°schemes that created mass opportunity for Georgian students and scholars to study and work in European countries¡±.

Johannes Wetzinger, a political science lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna, told Times Higher Education that the elections were a ¡°decisive moment for the future of the relations between the EU and Georgia¡±.

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Georgia¡¯s pro-EU president and former Sciences Po professor Salom¨¦ Zourabichvili has refused to accept the election results, alleging that Russia employed a ¡°special operation¡± to rig voting, while top EU diplomat Josep Borrell has called for ¡°electoral irregularities¡± to be investigated. The EU granted Georgia candidate status last December, but halted the process in July after the GD-controlled parliament passed a ¡°foreign agents¡± law described by Professor Zourabichvili, who vetoed the bill, as ¡°Russian in its essence and spirit¡±.

Universities were at the forefront of mass protests against the law, Ms Lezhava said, with many participating institutions now ¡°under attack by the government¡± as a result. She pointed to Ilia State University, from which full accreditation was withheld in the summer despite its receiving a positive evaluation. ¡°The state is trying to punish the university,¡± she said.

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Under GD, academic freedom and university autonomy have faced ¡°serious threats¡±, Ms Lezhava said. ¡°The underfunding of research is the one of the biggest challenges. Without academic research, there is no?knowledge production, which holds back your academic system.¡±

In Moldova, also a candidate for EU membership, 50.46?per cent of voters in October¡¯s referendum chose to enshrine the goal of joining the EU in the country¡¯s constitution. Pro-European president Maia Sandu, who claimed a second term in a tense election run-off held on 3 November that was marred by claims of ballot box interference, described the unexpectedly tight referendum as the result of ¡°[Russia¡¯s] unprecedented assault on our country¡¯s freedom and democracy¡±.

In 2005, both Georgia and Moldova joined the Bologna Process, aimed at establishing higher education qualifications of comparable quality across a European Higher Education Area. The countries are also associated to the Horizon Europe research funding programme.

Mr Wetzinger said the participation of universities from both countries in the Erasmus+ student mobility scheme demonstrated an interest across the sectors in further internationalisation, although the ¡°actual degree of internationalisation varies¡± among institutions.

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In Moldova, Mr Wetzinger said, ¡°we can already observe that the process of EU approximation has direct impacts on higher education¡±. The association agreement between the EU and Moldova outlines priorities including ¡°the modernisation of higher education¡± and ¡°increased staff and student mobility¡±.

While Moldovan institutions have maintained relationships with institutions in both the EU and Russia, he added, the mounting tensions prompted by Russia¡¯s invasion of Ukraine have forced the country to contend with ¡°an increasing geopoliticisation of higher education cooperation¡±. At present, he said, EU membership remains a ¡°longer-term prospect¡±.

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com