Providing the opportunity for Georgian students to study at the University of Limerick is the way to thank the University for the tremendous contribution it made to shaping my life.
Not only was the University of Limerick an excellent university back in the mid 1990’s when I studied there, but it has also continued to progress rapidly to meet and exceed the demands of the modern world.
I recently visited the university and was extremely impressed by the progress it has achieved since I graduated in 1998. The University Campus has been enlarged to 133 hectares and the number of buildings increased to over 40. The University now accommodates more than 13,000 students, of which 2,500 are international.
I believe studying at the University of Limerick will be a great opportunity and experience for Georgian students. It will enable them not only to get a state-of-the-art education, but also to better understand how a small nation can be successful.
Ireland transformed itself from one of the poorest countries in the EU to one of the top three richest countries in the EU, after Luxemburg and Norway. 30 years ago Irish GDP per capita was roughly the same as that of Portugal and Greece. Currently Ireland’s GDP per capita is more than 2.5 times that of Portugal and Greece and it is ranked in the top 20 richest nations in the world.
As well as creating an investor friendly environment, the Irish government in the past 20-30 years has invested heavily in education. This has enabled Ireland to provide an educated work force to investors and produce higher value added goods and services. As a result of these government investments, Ireland is now ranked in 8th place in the global innovation index. University of Limerick was one of the key recipients of the investments in education, research and innovation.
I believe it will be a useful experience for Georgian students to study and learn in a small country, which has managed in the past 20-30 years to transform itself from a relatively poor nation to one of the richest and most successful nations in the world.
In the end, I would like to thank University of Limerick for its generous contribution in iGeneration scholarship program.
