Education Minister Dimitri Shashkini and the Minister of Finance Kakha Baindurashvili met today to discuss the amendments to the new Tax Code, according to which the universities and higher education institutions would be obliged to pay VAT after the new tax code was adopted. The Finance Minister has said the government took into consideration the protest expressed to the amendments and made a decision to change the project. According to the corrected draft, the universities will no longer be taxed with VAT, but they will be obliged to form so-called endowment foundations, from which the funds will be distributed according to the university requirements and priorities.

Similar foundations successfully operate in Europe and the United States and they facilitate improvement of the education quality.

Under the decision of the Education Minister, a special working group will be formed, which will be staffed with the experts from the Education, Finance ministries and the representatives of various universities. The group will work on the draft laws regarding the Endowment Foundations during the two weeks and submit the project to the parliament for confirmation.