Policymakers in the South Caucasus region all know a difficult truth: the performance of their universities is disappointing. None of the institutions in the region can boast of a world-class status
none reach a meaningful rank in any of the university rankings. The countries' institutions, on aggregate, perform much below what is expected given the level of economic development. This report aims to help policymakers in ministries of economic affairs, ministries of finance, and ministries of education understand this sector of national importance. Even more importantly, it hopes to convince the leaders of the tertiary education institutions themselves to take on challenges facing this sector more decisively. The focus of the report is on tertiary education as a source of economic growth, recognizing that tertiary education has other important spillover effects. There is plenty of evidence that tertiary education also helps societies beyond economic returns in terms of improved health, resilience, awareness of climate change, and better-governed societies. Scientific research is a global public good in and of itself, whether it helps societies to understand their cultural traditions better or helps them to find a cure for cancer. These non-economic returns do not, by definition, contrast with economic returns: non-economic and economic returns require accessible, high-quality, relevant, well-funded tertiary education systems that combine teaching and research.