Visit at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University in Georgia
On April 12-19, English lecturer Dr. Indrė Koverienė visited Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University in Georgia. During the visit, the lecturer not only became acquainted with the oldest university in the South Caucasus region in detail but also had the opportunity to present the activities of the Institute of Foreign Languages at Vytautas Magnus University.
Comparing the mentioned universities, one can notice not only a number of historical parallels, such as the reasons and era of the founding of the universities, but also an obviously similar approach to the mother tongue and multilingualism. Since its establishment, the educational process of Tbilisi State University has been organized in the Georgian language to preserve and nurture the native language of the small nation. It is interesting that it was the only higher education institution in the former Russian Empire that implemented such a decision.
Another similarity is the number of foreign languages offered. VMU students, regardless of the study program, have a special opportunity to choose how many and which languages to learn from the 30 modern and classical languages offered. Students at Tbilisi State University have the opportunity to choose from an even wider list of foreign languages – as many as 40 of them. One can only be happy that small nations learn languages and are well aware that, as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said: ‘He who does not know foreign languages does not know anything about his own.’
