INTERVIEWED BY KETI CHKHIKVADZE
“Good education strongly influences the future wealth of individuals as it correlates with good work positions and consequently, high salaries. The better the education is, the more degrees the individual has, the more languages he or she speaks, and therefore more in demand the individual is on the job market. All these factors are reflected in their welfare,” said Dr. Kakha Shengelia, President of Caucasus University. He says that some companies nowadays have faced problems with the graduates of western schools and universities, however there are some exceptions.
“It’s possible to become a billionaire, even without having a business education, as some people are born with a talent which cannot be taught by any business manual” He recalls the example of Bill Gates, who was dismissed from Harvard Business School, but went on to achieve much more than his more successful counterparts. “I strongly agree that if a person has talent, a business education will make sure that the talent is not in vain, and that the talent is put in the right direction. The conclusion from here is that in spite of the fact that a business education is not the only determining factor to becoming a billionaire, it can help a lot,” Shengelia explained. Caucasus University is one of the leading private universities operating in Georgia, incorporating schools of business, law, media, technology, governance, humanities and tourism. In his interview with WEALTH, Dr. Shengelia spoke about the influence of business education, current employment trends and the
28 Wealth
FINANCIAL MAGAZINE | JULY-AUGUST 2011
DR. KAKHA SHENGELIA, PRESIDENT OF CAUCASUS UNIVERSITY
achievements of post-CSB graduates. “Having a western education has always been very important for companies. Very often the recruitment decision is based on the diploma of job applicants, which means that the diploma of a western university or school is usually considered a competitive advantage. Nowadays however some companies have faced problems with the graduates of western schools or universities. In spite of the fact that they have a very good education, they do not have enough information and knowledge about the local business environment and consequently need some time to adapt to Georgian business. That’s why in spite of the fact that western education is still highly in demand and appreciated, high quality Georgian education is also very important. Q. HOW EASY IS IT FOR STUDENTS WITH EUROPEAN EDUCATION TO BE RECRUITED BY FOREIGN COMPANIES? A. Students with European education can easily find work at foreign companies due to the fact that the western universities are usually recognised by the employers, and they trust the quality of the education. However some of the local universities have managed to build very strong brand awareness, and the graduates of local high-end universities are also well in demand by foreign companies operating on the Georgian market. The systems of education in Georgia and US are different. Georgian education follows the European, so-called Bologna regulations, while the US has its own regulation system for higher education. I must say that our university uses a mixture of European and American educational systems, which facilitates our international mobility for students’ exchanges for both Europe and the US.
Q. HOW IN DEMAND IS AN EXECUTIVE MBA IN GEORGIA? A. The Executive MBA is becoming more and more popular in Georgia. Caucasus University offers an Executive MBA in collaboration with one of the top European business schools Grenoble Graduate School of Business, and the demand for this programme is increasing every year, in spite of the fact that the price for an Executive MBA is higher than for a regular MBA. This can be partially explained by the fact that the Georgian market is developing each year and there are a number of specialists who hold an MBA degree. However there are also a lot of people who have already achieved top