Tbilisi State University was founded in 1918 owing to the leadership and huge effort of a famous Georgian historian Ivane Javakhishvili and the group of his followers. It was the first and the only educational body of this type in Caucasus by that time.

Today Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University is a major scientific educational complex consisting of 3 scientific-research and an educational-scientific institutions, 8 branches, 22 faculties in the regions, 81 scientific-research laboratories, study centers and bases, the Grigol Tsereteli scientific library, 7 museums, publishing house, printing press, art and cultural center , University general educational schools, colleges, a Lyceum.

On 25 April the university scientific council adopted "The Concepts of University Education", according to which the University has entirely transferred to a two-stage form of study. At the first stage — Bachelor's course — general university and special instruction is offered, whereas at the second stage — Master's course — excellent bachelors (approximately 30% of the graduates of the Bachelor's course) master a chosen specialization.

At present Tbilisi State University has fulltime, part-time as extra-mural departments.

The student body consists of more than 30.000 students,11.000 of them study at the braches, and more than 19.000 at the leading University (12.500 students — at Bachelor's course, 1.500 — at Master's course, 5.000 — at single-stage course of instruction). Up to 5000 collaborators of the University are involved in the instruction of students, more than 2.000 professors and lecturers (including up to 700 at the branches) among them. Many scholars and scientists of world renown, members of various foreign academies and international branch societies deliver lectures at Tbilisi University, the leader of higher education in Georgia. 42 members and 24 corresponding members of the Georgian Academy of Sciences conduct the training of postgraduates and competitions for scientific degrees is under way at the University chairs and scientific-research subdivisions, 26 boards for conferring scientific degrees in almost all areas of science and scholarship function at the University.

Medical education was restored at the university in 1994, the tradition of medical education was revived — originally the specialty of medicine was opened at the faculty of biology and medicine, and the faculty of medicine became an independent unit in 2000. The assembly of University clinics was founded, the educational bases of which are distinguished for their powerful material and technical equipment and highly qualified scientific-intellectual potential, the Center for the Management of Health Care and the Department for Continuous Medical Education were opened, the board of trustees of medicine and medical information service were founded. The University diagnostic center provides the health care of the professors and lecturers and collaborators of the University.

The University has eight branches in the country — in Sukhumi, Meskheti, Ozurgeti, Sighnaghi (kakheti), Zugdidi, Qvemo Qartli, Javakheti and Poti.

The university schools, namely the Ivane Javakhishvili school № 53, the N. Muskhelishvili school № 55, prof. T. Georgia physical-mathematical boarding school function successfully.

• Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University
• Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Andronikashvili Institute of Physics
• Sukhumi Branch of I. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University
• Tbilisi Ivane Javakhishvili State University, Department of Chemistry
• Tbilisi Ivane Javakhishvili State University, High Energy Physics Institude
• Tbilisi Ivane Javakhishvili State University, Ilia Vekua Institute of Applied Mathematics
• Tbilisi Ivane Javakhishvili State University, Institute of Computer Science
• Zugdidi Branch of I. Javakhishvili State University