Buckingham, 2 March 2026
Dear Mr Kobakhidze
Through long-standing scientific research collaborations with scientists of Ilia State University, as well as my role as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Biological Physics and Chemistry, of which Ilia State University is a copublisher (together with an academic learned society in Switzerland), I have become aware of your Government’s plans to profoundly change the status of Ilia State University.
While I am doubtless unaware of many facets of these plans and the context in which they have been developed, at first sight it does seem to be contrary to Georgia’s best interests to close down universities, especially those that actually lead national rankings. In an age increasingly dominated by knowledge, nations need all the education they can get and should be expanding universities rather than the opposite. Ilia State University’s position as the most highly ranked Georgian University (in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2026) implies that it is doing something right and that other universities in Georgia should strive to emulate it.
I have gathered that the present plans essentially comprise a rationalization of faculties such that each subject area will be assigned to one designated University. While in a certain sense this seems admirable and logical, is it really appropriate? It was continuous competition and rivalry over centuries between the ancient English universities of Oxford and Cambridge (of which I am a member) that drove them to the world-leading positions that they occupy today.
Had a rationalization of faculties been effected in, for example, the Elizabethan era, and one of the two closed down, or relegated to an inferior position, it is very doubtful that the other would have risen to become globally leading.
The present pace of change of knowledge is breathtaking, driven above all by the development of artificial intelligence (AI). Any country that does not keep up with this development will relegate itself to an inferior, subordinate position in the world. I have no doubt that Georgia, although a small country, is able to rise to the current challenges and position itself at the leading edge, thanks to the innate talents of its citizens. But they must have the freedom to do so, and the education to enable them to fulfil their potential. Anything that counteracts this freedom, or which restrains their education, is inimical to this rise. Even just the administrative reorganization implied by current plans will occupy a great deal of energy that will be far better spent on continuing to advance knowledge.
The present ultrarapid pace of change presents challenges for all countries. Indeed, this year’s St Gallen Symposium is called “Disruptive Age”. The needs presented by these challenges are so urgent that — to recall a dictum of the noted Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas — meaningful planning is not possible. Rather than intervening, success needs can be simply to be allowed to continue. Failings will indeed need remedial action, but success will be stymied by intervention, above all by reorganization. That may be appropriate in a calmer, more slowly moving era, but in the present time it is likely to be catastrophic and a guarantor of mediocrity rather than anything else.
Yours sincere
Professor Dr Jeremy J. Ramsden
Department of Biomedical Research The University of Buckingham Hunter Street, MK18 1EG
United Kingdom
2026
