Regional
CIS States Attend Bologna Summit, While Reform is Limited
When education ministers from Europe converged on Bergen, Norway, in May to review progress made toward the creation of the European Higher Education Area, former Soviet republics Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia and Azerbaijan were for the first time in attendance and pressing their cases for membership. One state, Belarus, was not invited, however, because of its poor record of institutional autonomy and student participation.
In Ukraine, newly elected reformist President Viktor Yushchenko is facing difficulties. His call for a coordinated road map toward Bologna harmonization by the end of the year is meeting opposition from the National Academy of Sciences [1], which is opposed to increased integration of research capabilities with the university sector. In Georgia, reform is also proving controversial (see March/April issue of WENR [2]) and has incited protest from many different sectors of society. In Moldova, where voters just endorsed a system that is ideologically communist and pragmatically eager to collect the material benefits offered by Europe, commitment to Bologna is a relatively minor part of the pro-Europe package. One practical step toward educational convergence has already been introduced. The Soviet-style five-and-a-half-year program was recently replaced with a four-year bachelor’s degree followed by a master’s.
In Bosnia, moves toward convergence stalled last year, resulting in the loss of substantial World Bank funding. Croatia’s problems with European Union accession have not weakened its commitment to Bologna.
— The Times Higher Education Supplement [3]
April 1, 2005
Kyrgyzstan
Indiana University Deepens Commitment to American University-Central Asia
Indiana University [4] will manage a US$15 million endowment for the American University-Central Asia [5] (AUCA). The endowment is the product of donations of $10 million and $5 million, respectively from the US Agency for International Development and the Open Society Institute.
The American-style university, located in the capital Bishkek, was established in 1993 by faculty from the country’s main public university who had become frustrated at the lack of reforms being made to Kyrgyzstan’s higher-education system. Over the last six years, Indiana University has sent approximately 40 faculty members and administrators to Bishkek to help develop faculty and curriculum at AUCA. Similar numbers of Kyrgyz faculty members have enrolled in graduate programs at Indiana.
The two donors stipulated that the endowment should be managed by an American institution, at least for the first five years.
— The Chronicle of Higher Education [6]
May 6, 2005
Russia
Minister’s Reforms Prove Unpopular
Education Minister Andrei Fursenko was pelted with eggs as he announced his plans for a three-tier university system to be topped by 20 elite institutions.
The egg throwers, who hit their target twice, were particularly angered at Fursenko’s announcement of the location of the first of the “all-Russian” state universities — the Siberian All-Russian University — during a visit to Krasnpyarsk, Siberia. The creation of the new university, which is to house 80,000 students, requires the merger and closure of other institutions in the city. Siberia has been chosen as a test case for the rest of the country.
Approximately 200 universities will form the next tier of federally funded higher-education institutions. The bottom tier will be regionally funded and managed under the reforms. The reforms have apparently been driven by financial considerations and are unpopular within academia. The full details of the reforms are still murky, and there is reportedly much competition among top universities to make sure they are included in the top 20.
— The Times Higher Education Supplement [3] April 1, 2005
Scientists Protest Privatization of Research Institutes
Scientists held rallies in major cities including Moscow in May to protest reforms planned by the Education and Science Ministry [7]. The reforms are designed to privatize many research establishments, and scientists fear the measure could destroy the country’s already weakened research sector. Scientists have adopted a resolution that calls for federal-budget support for science of up to 3 percent of GDP and raising salaries of research-establishment employees to 30,000 rubles a month (US$1,050) by 2008 without reducing overall staff numbers. In 2004, approximately 19 billion rubles (US$678 million) was earmarked in the federal budget for institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences system, which employs about 110,000 people.
— RFE/RL [8]
May 25, 2005
Turkmenistan
President’s Second Volume of Musings Cut Even Further Into Curriculum
President for life Saparmurat Niazov finished the Ruhnama, or the Book of the Spirit, in Spetember 2001, and it has since become compulsory reading in all areas of public life, both educational and professional. Now a second volume of Niazov’s thoughts about how to be a good Turkmen citizen has been completed and is set to join the first as obligatory study material from kindergarten to university.
All prospective students are tested on the Ruhnama as a requirement for enrollment to institutions of higher education, where, for the truly dedicated, there is even a faculty at the country’s top university devoted to the contents of the book and its sequel. In the schools, the national curriculum has been changed radically so that 15 minutes of every lesson are dedicated to reading the Ruhnama, regardless of the subject. This is in addition to Ruhnama studies, a new curriculum subject. To cater for the new material, the study of other subjects such as physical education, foreign literature, chemistry, biology and world history has been reduced or eliminated.
Many educators in the country interviewed by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting have expressed deep concern for the future. They worry that the minds of Turkmenistan’s youth are being filled with “nonsense,” and that the Ruhnama generation will be “totally ignorant and devoid of ideas.”
— The Institute for War and Peace Reporting [9]
May 6, 2005
Uzbekistan
British University Defends Its Campus Collaboration with Uzbek Government
The University of Westminster [10] in May defended its decision not to withdraw from a campus the university runs in the capital Tashkent despite the wave of recent violence in the country.
Academics at the London campus expressed “serious concerns” about the safety of staff at the Westminster International University in Tashkent [11] and its collaboration with the Uzbek government, which is accused of ordering its security forces to open fire on thousands of protesters in May.
However, Westminster Vice-Chancellor Geoffrey Copland said staff and students were hundreds of miles away from the violence, that the university stood as a symbol of the future for a country in turmoil and that it was independent of the government, despite the fact that the government paid for the university to be built.
Westminster won a competitive bid conducted by the Uzbek government and the British Council to set up a university in the capital of Tashkent five years ago. The first 20 students, who started courses in 2002, are due to graduate this year. Approximately 100 students are currently studying for law, economics, management, business studies and information technology degrees that follow a British syllabus and are validated by the University of Westminster in London. Two British staff members manage the campus, where the teaching is conducted by Uzbeks in English.
— The Guardian [12]
May 18, 2005