The aim of the national structural reform project ‘Responsible Conduct of Research - Research Integrity and Ethics in Georgian Universities (ETHICS)’ is to launch a systemic improvement intervention to improve the quality of University and Research-Performing Organizations (RPOs) research through launching measures to adhere to the foundations of high-quality research and excellence. Its specific objectives are to introduce the mechanisms of ensuring research ethics, research integrity and good faith for researchers and within advanced level study programs, and in the accreditation standards of doctoral programs to enhance the standards of Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) – Ethics and Integrity supported by appropriate national and institutional policies and processes that help avoid cases of scientific work lacking originality. Equally important is to formally introduce and prevail a culture of research integrity, good research practice and better prepare Georgian universities to become more competitive and offer trustworthy research proposals at home and abroad incorporating research integrity and ethics, specifically under the Horizon Europe and ERC calls. The planned activities include: (a) Policy Change and Capacity Building of Experts in Accreditation of Doctoral Programs, (b) Creation of Research Integrity Module/MOOC, (c) Training of Researchers and Research Support [INTEGRITY] Officers, (d) Elaboration of University Research Integrity, Policies, Ethics, and Resources, (e) The Research Integrity Ethics Board, (f) Development of Academic Support and Research Integrity Services for Supportive Environment for Researchers, and (g) Enhancement of Responsible Science Communication in Georgian universities. The intervention is intended for universities, research centers and institutes, national authorities, Horizon Europe Office, science foundation, research support [INTEGRITY] officers, PhD and young researchers.

The main goal of the project is to change the strategic framework in order to provide implementation of dual education in HE system of Georgia.The overall aim of the project is:• Improvement of the competencies of graduates in Georgia according to the needs of employers,• Increase of the employability of graduates and their motivation to study,• Improvement of accessibility to HE of students from lower income families.Dual Higher Education (DHE) will enable students to acquire more relevant knowledge and skills by combining classical school education with knowledge and skills acquired at the work place. Consequently, this will provide them with competences and skills that are more in line with needs of employers and it will significantly increase employability.Statistically, first employments are happening usually in the companies who offer work-based learning. This will not only raise the motivation of students, but also raise the interest of companies to cooperate with HEIs in design and implementation of the study programs based on DHE.It is expected that companies would give input to curricula, organise and eventually provide scholarships schema to selected students, offering organised training led jointly with HEIs and being involved in the assessment of the knowledge. In order to achieve these aims, the project needs to realize the following concrete objectives:• To identify needs and specific requirements of companies in different industrial sectors and businesses for DHE and to find companies willing to participate in pilot implementations of DHE;• To develop a flexible and generic dual HE model to support different needs and interests of all stakeholders, and to provide recommendations to HEIs for implementation of DHE;•To propose amendments to the national qualifications framework;•To test the specific DHE models generated from the generic model, by realizing their pilot implementations during the project and to analyse achieved results.