Forschungszentrum Jülich and Georgian universities are engaged in a manifold of cooperation projects since many years. The cooperation of Jülich and Georgian partners has been put on solid ground by a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and a student exchange program with the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation (SRNSF), and students have started Master and PhD work in different FZJ-institutes (Joint Call Georgia-Juelich).  

As part of the GGSB (Georgian-German Science Bridge) concept, in 2013 and 2015 educational programmes for Georgian students have been conducted in so-called “Autumn Lectures” at the GTU as well as “Workshops and Summer Schools” at different locations in Georgia in every even year, which  started in 2004 and continues until today. In 2017, a new longer-term initiative has been started, which we call qualified and qualification lecture course (“QUALI-Start-Up”). The content of this first training course was in the fields of basic science and included lectures in experimental and theoretical physics, chemistry, mathematics, life sciences and health, engineering science with the emphasis on application of technologies. The course was conducted in Jülich by leading scientists of five FZJ institutes (IEK, IKP, INM, PGI, ZEA) and included theoretical as well as practical trainings at the forefront experimental and technological facilities of FZJ. This time,  we plan to conduct a second QUALI-Start-Up (2) lecture course for one week in September 2019, in Jülich.

Besides the motivation to provide access to a wide range of modern infrastructure, students will certainly be impressed by the advanced techniques and by being able to do hands-on training in different scientific disciplines in a very concise and effective manner. At the same time, the students should become acquainted with the requirements needed to be successful in possible subsequent studies at Jülich and nearby universities (e.g. RWTH Aachen or University of Cologne).

The targeted group of Georgian students – we consider about 20 students in total – should be preselected with regard to their qualifications by the Georgian universities first. The final selection of the students for the QUALI-Start-Up training course will be done in close assistance with selection panel consisting of supervisors from the corresponding Georgian universities and FZJ institute directors.

The planned training courses will be joined not only by the selected students from Georgia, but in addition by a number of  Master and  PhD Georgian students already working in Juelich.