I had expected an empty airport when I arrived at Tbilisi at 4 AM, but on the contrary, it was rush hour. Most planes arrive and depart quite early in the morning for some reason. Fortunately the driver that Tbilisi State University (TSU) had arranged was waiting for me. And to my surprise, it appeared that my neighbor in the plane joined me in the car: he was a professor in Law of the University of Cologne and came to teach a short course at TSU. All this happened last week when Louis Boon (dean of FHS), Manuela Heins (UCM) and I visited TSU. In one of my previous blogs I have reported about the TSU visit to Maastricht and this was our counter visit. We talked to a number of deans, we gave an intensive workshop in problem based learning and we visited two campuses. The funny thing is that when I told colleagues and friends that I would visit Tbilisi, they were smiling and asking what the … are you going to do in Georgia? Is there something of interest in Georgia? As if Georgia is a no go country at the end of the world. Strangely, such questions are never asked when you say that you go to the US even if you go to some remote city in Texas. I think that this is strange because Georgia has a lot to offer to Maastricht. First, they are very much willing to join Europe and comply with the European standards and they are eager to learn how to get there. Second, they educate very good students who are looking for graduate studies in Europe. Third, quite a few Dutch companies have settled in Georgia and fourth, the first lady of Georgia is Dutch. So co-operation with TSU would fit quite nice in a strategy that focuses on building a truly international network university. The Dutch companies and the first lady seem to be very supportive in connecting the Georgian corporate world to Maastricht University. On the other hand, it became clear that Georgia and TSU have a long way to go and this holds in particular for the old state universities. But like in countries as China and India, also in Georgia all sorts of new schools are arising and my visit to the International School of Economics at TSU was a real eye-opener. This school operates as a private business unit in TSU and has all the facilities of a modern university. European and US professors teach in this school and they have connections with good research institutes. This dual development in university education is something that I have noticed in other emerging economies as well and fascinates me. How can two such different models and cultures exist within one university? And to what model will this converge? Louis, Manuela and I were discussing this at the airport on the day we left. Yes, indeed, at 4 AM we arrived at the airport and it was again rush hour.