The COST Action CA22121: New Rising Nationalisms, Shifting Geopolitics and the Future of European Higher Education / Research Openness (OPEN) provides a unique opportunity to reflect on the interaction between changemakers and traditionalists competing in academia in Georgia. The recurring tides of clashes between the old intelligentsia and new intellectuals over curriculum modernization or maintenance of the status quo, in the name of defending traditional academia, appear against the backdrop of emerging changes and teaching and research novelty. This is a symptom of the geopolitics of higher education revealed in Georgia, as the conflict between the modernizing West/Europe and the retrograde Soviet past/Russia, for securing power and influence over knowledge production and dissemination, appears through the struggle between different epistemic communities.