From the very first day of the establishment of the Polytechnic Institute of Georgia, the necessity of economic education along with technical education of engineering personnel was obvious. The above-described genesis of this higher technical school makes it clear to some extent why it is difficult to find archival documents about economic education and scientific research in this field at the Polytechnic Institute of Georgia before the forties. However, the one-party, totalitarian system of the country's government of that period still gives grounds for expressing some opinions in this direction. First, the main principle of communist ideology was to propagate the ideas of Marxism-Leninism among the masses and to educate the members of the society in the spirit of loyalty to these ideas. Political economy was seen as one of the most important components of Marxism-Leninism, and therefore its teaching in higher education (regardless of profile) was believed to strengthen the youth's commitment to communist "ideals". Therefore, as it was generally characteristic of the administrative-commanding, totalitarian government, the political economy teaching program was established in the "single center" - in Moscow, in the Ministry of Higher Education of the USSR. These programs, as a necessary reference point for teaching the subject, "arrived" in the education agencies of the republics, were translated and transferred to higher education institutions. Since the creation and publication of original textbooks in native languages was prohibited, textbooks published in the Russian language and translated into the native language and works of the classics of Marxism-Leninism were mainly used in accordance with these programs. Later, first by agreement with Moscow, then with the permission of the local partocracy, it was possible to create original textbooks in the native language, but each line submitted for publication was subject to strict "censorship". Among the first political economy textbooks published in the Georgian language, the auxiliary textbook "Political Economy" (1973), authored by Manager of the Political Economy Department of the Polytechnic Institute of Georgia, authored by Professor R. Meladze, took a special place.
The Department of Political Economy of the Polytechnic Institute of Georgia, as the direction of economic theory and business management of the Department of Economics and Business Management of the Faculty of Business Engineering of the Technical University of Georgia, was created under the name of the Department of Political Economy and Theory of Soviet Economy in the second half of the thirties of the last century. In 1940, it was named the Cathedra of Political Economy. Rafiel Meladze became its governor from the same period. Many distinguished people, scientists, some of whom have long secured a place in eternity, worked together with him.
Since 1974, the Doctor of Economic Sciences, Professor Leo Chikava, was elected to the position of Chair of the Cathedra, who began his duties on September 1, 1974 and worked until 1983, before moving to work in the system of the National Academy of Sciences of Georgia. Scientific, pedagogical and public activities were quickly started at the department. At the cathedra meetings, according to the pre-made schedule, not only the annual papers made according to the scientific-research work plan, but also issues related to the educational process were discussed. The head of the department himself or together with one of the members systematically attended lectures and seminars. A deep and thorough discussion of the results of the attendance led to the maximum mobilization of the efforts of the members of the department for better work. At the same level, the discussion and acceptance of the annual scientific-research papers took place. For some papers, the head of the department was notified in advance, along with the official reviewer, and he reminded the department of his opinions about its validity. And some of them were informed during the session (before the reviewer introduced the cathedra review) and found a flaw there, which put both the author and the reviewer in great embarrassment. Considering all this, obviously, contributed to raising the scientific level of research papers. One of the main concerns of the department was to fill it with highly qualified personnel and raise their qualifications.
It is a very significant fact that according to the results of his activities in 1974-1983, he took the first place in the institute among the social science cathedras every year.
The Department of Political Economy of the Polytechnic Institute of Georgia, along with other departments, cooperated with the Departments of Political Economy of the Technical University of Prague and the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest. There was frequent exchange of employees and joint events, participation in institute scientific conferences. In 1982 and 1984, the articles of Professor L. Chikava and Docent V. Kiria were published in the collection of works of the Higher Technical School of Prague "Aktapolitechnika". Professor Otar Maglaპeridze and Docent Lamara Mdivani from the Department of Political Economy of GTU were in these two universities abroad. With the consent of the institute's leadership, famous Russian scientists, professors - Nikoloz Kolesov and Nikoloz Cherkasov were invited to give lectures at the department. Until the end of the fifties, the members of the department raised their qualifications once every five years in the Moscow. In the institutes for improving the qualifications of teachers of social sciences located near Lomonosov University, St. Petersburg (then Leningrad), Kyiv, Minsk and Tashkent state universities.
Some members of the department had to raise their qualifications several times in these institutes, where they listened to the lectures of well-known economists, prepared scientific and methodical papers, participated in discussions of processed papers and seminar classes, and had the opportunity to publish their own papers. The members of the department actively used these opportunities.
From 1983 to 1989, Professor Valerian Datukishvili led the work of the Department of Political Economy of the Polytechnic Institute of Georgia in the capacity of Manager. Methodical and theoretical seminars of professors-teachers were held in this period as well. Filling the department with qualified staff was a matter of special concern.
In 1989, due to his seniority, Professor Valerian Datukishvili expressed his desire to leave his position. In 1989, Professor Carlo Ghurtskaia was elected as the head of the department. Life demanded a transition to a market economy. It became necessary to fundamentally change the training programs. Political and economic thinking had to be completely changed to match the era of market economy and free competition. A reform of higher education was being prepared. The innovation had to touch everything, starting from the curriculum and teaching methods, ending with the student evaluation system. The latter was primarily a governmental prerogative. Introducing new teaching methods and providing students with new textbooks reflecting the reality of life should become an urgent task of higher education institutions, which Professor K. Ghurtskaia successfully handled. McConnell D. N. was translated and published twice under his guidance. and Bruce L. "Economics" in four-volumes; Fischer S., Dornbusch N., Schmalenzi N. "Economics", Samuelson P. A., Nordhaus V. d. "Economics" in four volumes. He himself published "Economic Theory", "Principles of Economics" and other auxiliary manuals.
The Cathedra of Political Economy was renamed to the Cathedra of Fundamentals of Economic Theory and Marketing. From the very beginning, the Department of Political Economy was an independent, separate structural unit of the Polytechnic Institute of Georgia, and later of the Technical University, which managed the educational process at all faculties. In the last period, following the structural reorganization, it was named "Economic Theory and Business Management Department" and merged into the Department of Economics and Business Management.
The direction of economic theory and business management has retained the function of a university direction and guides the educational process both at business engineering and at other faculties of GTU. It is versatile and leads the teaching of fundamentals of economic theory, marketing, management, business fundamentals, micro and macroeconomics, economic analysis, statistics, stock exchange and taxation, risk and insurance and other economic disciplines. Improvement of training programs is the subject of daily concern of various directions of the Department of Economics and Business Management of the Faculty of Business Engineering and the Quality Management Service of the Faculty.
In contrast to the previous periods, currently the educational process in the entire university, including the direction of economics and business management, is being conducted with bachelor's, master's and doctoral academic programs.
The Faculty of Business Engineering of the Georgian Technical University was enlarged, and three faculties were formed on its base to strengthen the efficiency of its management: Business Technologies, Faculty of Law and International Relations and Faculty of Engineering Economics, Media Technologies and Social Sciences.
On January 31, 2013, by the decision of the Academic Council of GTU, the Department of Engineering Economics was separated as a separate department.
The department implemented bachelor's and master's programs. Later, the department also developed a doctoral program in economics. The Department of Engineering Economics later became part of the Faculty of Engineering Economics, Media Technologies and Social Sciences.
Professor Alexander Sichinava was appointed as the head of the department. Since its establishment, the department has been distinguished by its scientific, educational and international activities. The department offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs. All three programs obtained 7-year accreditation in 2021.
A laboratory for modeling economic processes was created in the department, which is engaged in fruitful work. The innovative progress in the development of computer technologies allows the emphasis on formalized methods and algorithms as accurate and reliable tools in the investigation of complex economic processes.
Solving tasks of economic analysis and forecasting, optimal distribution of limited resources, development of effective management solutions and successful solutions to a number of other real problems are unimaginable at the modern stage without the use of econometric and, in general, economic-mathematical methods and models (EMMM). Therefore, there is no doubt how relevant it is to train highly qualified specialists, especially in the fields of economics and business administration, as well as engineering. Without this, sustainable economic development of the country is impossible.
The above-mentioned circumstances led to the establishment of the "Economic Process Modeling Laboratory" at the Department of Engineering Economics in 2013. The main research objectives of the laboratory were formulated as follows: 1. Finding, acquiring and analyzing existing software packages of EMMM and econometrics (with special capabilities); 2, Creation of new economic-mathematical models; Development of modern methodologies for introducing EMMM and econometric modeling in the educational process, making appropriate corrections in training programs and syllabi; 3. Organization of trainings for professors and teachers who consider it expedient to use the appropriate software package in the educational process; 4. Increasing the quality of the use of modeling tools in master's and doctoral research components; 5. Deepening of scientific research in the direction of economic-mathematical modeling and econometrics with an orientation to the implementation of research results in practice. At the modern stage, laboratory studies are conducted in the computer class both for undergraduate (study discipline - modeling of economic processes) and master's (study discipline - econometrics) level.
The topics of laboratory works are diverse and a wide range of software packages are used (linear and non-linear programming, matrix games, inter-branch balance, regression-correlation analysis, etc.). Each laboratory work is conducted in an interactive mode and includes two academic hours. In the first hour, the solution of a typical problem is demonstrated, and in the second hour, the students are given the task of laboratory work. The completed work will be uploaded to the corresponding electronic journal. The laboratory helps master's and doctoral students to use appropriate software tools in research processes.
Two scientific research centers are operating at the department: 1. Scientific-research center of economic development and its legal support (headed by Professor D. Sekhniashvili) and 2. Scientific-research center of property valuation according to European standards (headed by Professor Al. Sichinava). The first center conducts conferences, trainings, invites foreign specialists to give lectures for students and professors. The conferences are distinguished by the variety of issues and foreign professors participating in them.
150 foreign scientists and economists participated in the work of the conference for 9 years. Preparations are underway for the tenth conference, which will be dedicated to the 100th anniversary of GTU. The second center is undergoing licensing and will soon start operating in the direction of property valuation and specialist training.
The reforms currently underway at the Technical University of Georgia demanded the optimization of staff units, as a result of which the following will continue to work in the Department of Engineering Economics after the competition held in 2021: Aleksandre Sichinava, Dali Sekhniashvili, Davit Iakobidze, Guram Jolia, Revaz Shengelia, Tariel Kikvadze, Nato Chikviladze, Nazi Chikaidze, Irina Mamaladze, Demna Kvaratskhelia, Akaki Gvarutsidze, Lia Chkonia, Elene Menabde, Nato Gegenava, Tamar Abuashvili, Te Bidzinashvili, Maia Benia, Zurab Garakanidze, Theona Bakanidze, Levan Tatishvili, Davit Makhviladze, Tamar Chachanidze, Irakli Jangavadze, Lasha Mgeladze, Temur Shakiashvili, Irma Bakhturidze, Nino Bendianishvili, Davit Gegia, Dali Gvasalia (specialist).
The entire staff of the Department of Engineering Economics is ready to fulfill all the tasks set before it by the ongoing reforms in the GTU, and the research will do everything for the future engineering-technical personnel to receive a thorough economic education.