SASC – Swiss Agricultural School Caucasus

SASC Graduation Ceremony 2024

In addition to «promoting Switzerland as a top location for business and as a place to live», Gebert Rüf Stiftung has also been involved in Eastern Europe since 1999, in accordance with its article of purpose. The grants for Eastern Europe aim to provide specific support for the respective transition processes with education and development projects. Between 1999 and 2011 these were known as the Swiss Baltic Net (SBN) promoting young academic talent in the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. From 2009 to 2018, the Academic Swiss Caucasus Net (ASCN) focused on supporting social sciences and humanities in the South Caucasus region. The third and last Eastern European programme, the Swiss South Caucasus Net (SSCN), focused on transitional development in the South Caucasus, primarily in Georgia and Armenia, from 2017 to 2022.

The SASC promotion project in Georgia, which was part of the SSCN, will be supported with consolidation funding as part of the outphasing. The «Swiss Agricultural School Caucasus», established in Sarkineti in 2019, is an agricultural training school for prospective young farmers in Georgia. The school was set up as part of a private-public partnership modelled on the Plantahof education and extension centre in Landquart. With its specialisation in livestock farming and milk processing, the training is based on Switzerland's dual education system. The centre is to become a beacon for agricultural education in Georgia.

Swiss Agricultural School Caucasus