New international cooperation brings Georgian exchange students to Pori

The starting point for the cooperation between UCPori and Georgia was the visit of Vitali Imerili, Honorary Consul of Georgia in Finland, to the University Consortium of Pori in spring 2022. Imerili is a well-known jazz violinist who has performed many times at Pori Jazz. He said that Georgian universities were looking for partners among Finnish universities.

Tarmo Lipping, director of the University Consortium at the time, suggested Kimmo Ahonen, who was in charge of the international exchange program, to identify potential partner universities in Georgia. The matter took a step forward in the fall of 2022, when Ahonen attended the EAIE student exchange conference in Barcelona, Spain, and happened to strike up a conversation with representatives from the Georgian American University.

The Georgian American University (GAU) in Tbilisi is a small, multidisciplinary university with 2,600 students. Founded 20 years ago by an American businessman, the university is Western-oriented and pro-EU, and encourages its students to participate in student exchange programs.

– GAU wanted to sign an Erasmus agreement with the Pori unit of the University of Tampere. Erasmus funding was sought from the National Agency for Education for the collaboration. Receiving the funding made it possible to launch the collaboration and begin planning student and staff exchanges, Ahonen says happily.

In spring 2024, Lipping and Ahonen visited Tbilisi during the international Staff Week organized by GAU. The week was packed with activities and introduced participants not only to university life but also to Georgian culture and history more broadly.

– Thanks to the visit, cooperation got off to a flying start: the first two exchange students from GAU arrived in Pori that same autumn. In addition to student exchange, staff exchange was also launched when Nata Bajiashvili, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at GAU, visited UCPori in September 2024, Ahonen says.

Rapidly expanding university cooperation

In 2025, cooperation with Georgia deepened and expanded geographically when Honorary Consul Imerili proposed cooperation with Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University (BSU). The city of Batumi is located on the Black Sea coast, 400 kilometers west of Tbilisi.

– Batumi has been called the “Dubai of Georgia”, and the skyscrapers built along the sandy beaches certainly reinforce this image, Ahonen says.

Erasmus funding was also granted for student and staff exchanges with BSU. The first two students from Batumi arrived in Pori in the fall of 2025. In addition, GAU was also interested in sending exchange students for the fall semester.

– The GAU students who studied in Pori in the fall of 2024 had an excellent experience, and word about studying in Finland and at the University Consortium of Pori spread quickly among students. According to GAU staff, there was outright competition for exchange places, Ahonen says.

In the fall semester of 2025, a total of four students from Georgia studied in the University Consortium's exchange program in Pori. Like other exchange students, they studied courses taught in English at the Tampere University Pori Unit and the Turku School of Economics Pori Unit.

New life experiences as exchange students

The group of four Georgian exchange students living in Pori in the fall semester of 2025 included Mariami Melikidze, who studies at GAU, and Ani Takidze, a student at BSU. Both are studying computer science at their home universities. They had never been to Finland before arriving for their exchange period, so their experiences of both Pori and Finnish culture were completely new.

How friendly and welcoming does Finnish culture seem to Georgians? What have they liked most about Pori?

– In my opinion, Pori is a really cozy, compact city. I like the peace and quiet. I've also been impressed by the respect Finns have for nature and how much people here cycle from place to place, Mariami says with a smile.

The students feel that adapting to Finnish culture was surprisingly easy. They got to know Finnish students and other international exchange students and praised the community spirit at UCPori. With the guidance of tutors, they also gained a lot of experience of local student life.

– I met many Finns during the first two weeks. It takes time to get to know them, but overall, they are very friendly and hospitable, says Ani.

– And the Finns' language skills are amazingly good, Mariami adds.

During their stay, Mariami and Ani also got to know Finnish food, such as salmon soup and Karelian pies. As for the weather, the contrasts of the northern hemisphere have already caught their attention.

– In August, the sun shone for a really long time in the evening, but in November, the situation was completely the opposite. The cold also feels different now, and it took some time to get used to it, they say.

Studying at a Finnish university is somewhat different from Georgian universities. Both Ani and Mariami agree that studying in Finland is more independent and offers more freedom.

– Finnish student culture has taught me self-direction, because at Finnish universities, students themselves are clearly responsible for their own progress, Mariami explains.

– Studying is more comprehensive and the emphasis is distributed more evenly throughout the course, whereas at my home university, exams at the end of the course are the most important thing, Ani reflects.

What thoughts and life lessons will Ani and Mariami take with them when they return to their home country?

– I have learned to live more slowly, and I intend to seek more silence and enjoy it in my hometown, says Ani.

– I have learned a lot about independence, and the exchange period has also given me new insights into my own culture. I also respect nature even more after this experience, Mariami sums up.

International cooperation will continue closely, as four Georgian students have been accepted into the UCPori exchange program for the spring semester of 2026.


​​​​​​​Text: Hanna Rissanen and Kimmo Ahonen
Photo: Hanna Rissanen