“TSU Envoy” is one of the successful projects existing at Tbilisi State University for years, through which school pupils have the opportunity to get acquainted with the university. TSU student envoys tell the pupils of their home schools how attractive and interesting TSU can be for them as future students. They are the envoys of their own university to their home school.

“TSU Envoy” and the goal set in 9th grade

Giulgiun Mamedkhanova is one of those who was encouraged by TSU Envoy to enter the university. She later became an envoy herself. She first visited her native Tekali public school as a TSU envoy and then returned as a teacher. She graduated from TSU in 2022. Currently, she teaches the subject “I and Society” at Tekali public school. She is a journalist by second profession, as a freelancer she prepares various products on a number of social topics, such as: women’s rights, challenges faced by ethnic minorities living in Georgia, individual stories, etc. Giulgiun also works with other young people in the Marneuli Municipality on various environmental projects.  

“I heard about TSU for the first time when I was in the 9th grade, when a former pupil, who was already a student at TSU, visited our school as a guest. This student told us about the oldest university in the Caucasus in such a detailed, interesting and proud way that I decided that one day I would also join TSU. And I joined... I graduated from TSU with a major in public geography, and I learned in depth about the close relationship between the environment and society.  

After graduating from the university, in the same year Giulgiun passed the 10-credit exam in the field of geography as a confirmation of teaching competence. And next year - civic education exam. As she notes, the knowledge she gained at TSU has made a significant contribution to her career advancement. “I am very motivated to teach my students the subject “I and Society”. I am also an active member of the Multisectoral Working Group initiative. Our goal is to introduce climate-smart agriculture with sustainable development approaches in the Marneuli Municipality. As part of the group’s activities, we actively support local farmers to develop their agriculture without harming the environment, to produce clean products, not to accelerate climate change with their activities, and to get acquainted with the aspects of modern agriculture. I believe that the knowledge gained in the field of public geography helped me to contribute to the activities of this group and to the development of agriculture in the Marneuli Municipality,” says the TSU graduate.

“In addition to the multisectoral group, I founded the “Green Thinking” eco-club with the pupils three years ago. We carry out projects and activities to improve the ecological situation and effectively manage plastic waste in the Marneuli Municipality. As part of one of the projects, we opened a plastic collection point in Marneuli and announced the campaign “Marneuli without plastic.” The plastic collected with the participation of the residents of Marneuli is handed over to the plastic reception factory, thus contributing to the waste management in the Marneuli Municipality. Also, this year, we submitted a budget initiative to the Marneuli City Hall, requesting that the Marneuli Cleaning Day be introduced at the municipal level. For more information, please, visit our Facebook page https://m.facebook.com/ProtectEnvironment12/

When most of the projects bring you to TSU...

At the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences there were very interesting programs that I enjoyed studying. For example, journalism and politics, social work, sociology. I used to choose electives from these programs while studying public geography. I can say for sure that now I understand better the need for the subjects I studied, and I am glad that I was a part of it. If you love geography and at the same time are interested in the close connections and regularities between environment and society, if you want to understand why world maps in the 21st century are full of challenges and what role geopolitics plays in this, if you want to see your place in the current processes in society, then you should definitely choose public geography. You will get a very diverse experience in different fields of social and political sciences. For example, while studying public geography, I acquired all the relevant knowledge and skills needed to be an active citizen, from research methods to political geography.

TSU Envoy was one of the most valuable projects for me. As part of the project, I held an informational meeting about TSU for the pupils of my school in my village. The pupils received information about the history of TSU, the importance of higher education, faculties and programs at the university. I am glad that after this meeting, TSU was the choice of several pupils. I think such meetings are very important for them.

After the TSU Envoy, I started active work with ethnic Azerbaijani youth and I am still implementing their personal and professional development projects. For my active work in this field, I became one of the 11 winners of the competition “Youth Worker of 2021.” The Youth Agency officially recognized me as the Young Worker of the Year from the Kvemo Kartli region, which is a great honor for me.

The second TSU-related program is the Tutorium Program, which aims to provide academic support to the students of the “TSU Georgian Language Preparation Program”, to develop practical and leadership skills of young people, and to integrate them into the Georgian society. I joined the program in September 2020 and officially completed it in April 2021. Within the framework of this program, I held at least 2-3 meetings per week with students on topics such as: human rights, democracy, media literacy, social entrepreneurship and youth, leadership skills development trainings, etc. I also helped them overcome the challenges of academic life; I held Georgian language learning seminars/meetings. During the pandemic, distance learning created many challenges for students, especially those from ethnic minorities. As you know, these young people enter the university in a different way, through the Georgian language preparation program (1+4 program). They study the state language at the university for one year and then become freshmen. During this one year, in addition to learning the language, they develop leadership and civic skills through non-formal education. The outbreak of the pandemic prevented them from doing this. So, I decided to become a tutor and help the students overcome these difficulties.

Even after graduating from the university, I kept thinking about how I could help ethnic minorities to learn the Georgian language. Teaching the Georgian language is an obligation of the state, but we should not forget that we, the citizens, should play an active role in the development and strengthening of our country and together build an inclusive, developed, strong country based on diversity and tolerance.

Achieving this goal is also connected with TSU. In 2022, together with my friend Mariam Ispiryan, we participated in the startup competition “Big Idea Challenge” as a team of Tbilisi State University and won it. The GRANDALA team became the champion of the country.

With the grant we received, we started to create the social enterprise GRANDALA, which will be an online platform for learning the Georgian language. Through it, we will connect qualified Georgian language teachers with representatives of ethnic minorities who want to learn the Georgian language. In this way, we are creating additional resources for ethnic minorities to become more involved in building our country. The GRANDALA website and other organizational issues are expected to be completed by February 2024. I am proud that many people and supporters have gathered around this idea.

Practical advice for Armenian and Azerbaijani students

I would tell young people to enjoy every moment of being a student. I think that this time in a person’s life is the most incomparable intersection of good and bad life lessons. I would also advise ethnically Armenian and Azerbaijani youth to actively participate in projects, student self-government activities and active communication with Georgian fellow students during their education. All this will help you learn the Georgian language better, develop as a thinking citizen and integrate more easily into the Georgian society.

When I was a student, I was very shy and could not communicate with people around me for a while. Living in Tbilisi, being far from my beloved village, parents and friends was a bit difficult for me. Nevertheless, TSU gave me a wonderful opportunity to get acquainted with my fellow students and lecturers to gain valuable knowledge from professionals as well as the honor of being their student.

I always wanted to go abroad and participate in volunteer programs. When I was a student, I heard about Erasmus and European Solidarity Corps volunteer programs from many students, and I decided to participate in them. There is a saying, “The universe tries to fulfill the dream you have in your heart.” After many attempts, I was selected for a two-month volunteer program in Belgium, where I gained very valuable experience. There I met youth and social workers from different countries of the world, educators, which gave me an opportunity to use the experience gained there in working with young people in Georgia.

My immediate goal is to register the “Multisectoral Working Group” initiative as a non-governmental organization and to implement more large-scale programs in the entire Kvemo-Kartli region. Agriculture is the driving force of the economy and it is very important to focus on this sector. I believe that by developing climate-smart agriculture and promoting sustainable development in the region, we will bring about a positive change in the region.

My future plans are to obtain the status of a mentor in geography and civic education and to advance in the field of teaching. Azerbaijani language schools really need professional teachers for the overall prosperity of the country.

The good thing is that today my younger brother is also a student of TSU at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, where he is studying with a specialization in multilingual education. I am glad that he will break the stereotype that elementary school teaching is only for women and will be one of the successful teachers in the future.