Regional

Ministers from New Bologna Signatories Prepare for London Summit

The Ministers of Education from Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, and Ukraine met informally this past December to discuss higher education reforms related to the Bologna Process being implemented in their respective nations. The officials recommitted to goals such as improving quality assurance procedures, instituting new qualifications frameworks and implementing necessary curriculum reforms by 2010.

— Council of Europe
Dec. 14, 2006

UNESCO E-Campus Program in Central Asia Completed

UNESCO recently completed the “E-portals of Central Asian Universities” project, a technological framework that allows students and professors at universities across Central Asia to share resources electronically. Participating institutions include Al-Farabi University Kazakhstan, Miro Ulugbek University in Uzbekistan, the Technological University of Tajikistan and the Ablai Khan Kazkh University of World Languages and International Relations.

— UNESCO
Dec. 6, 2006

Kazakhstan

EU Supports Higher Education in Kazakhstan

This past November Kazakhstan’s Education Minister Byrganym Aitimova and European Union official Adraian Van Der Meer presented a joint project, “Supporting development and monitoring of quality assurance system in the sphere of Kazakhstan’s higher education.” The EU and Kazakhstan have signed a joint agreement under which the former will help Kazakhstan develop a mechanism for assuring quality programs throughout the country’s institutions of higher education.

— Kazinform
Nov. 23, 2006

Russia

British Preparatory School Plans to Open Russian Branch

Brighton College, a well-known British preparatory school, plans to open a branch in Russia and admit its first class of Russian students in 2009. Although the British education system is well respected in Russia, parents have balked in recent years at sending their children abroad for fear that they will not return to Russia upon graduation. The new school will fuse curriculum used in both Russian and British education to prepare students for their post-secondary education. The best pupils in each class will be sent to Brighton’s original campus in Britain to prepare for their A levels in that country.

— RIAN Novosti
Nov. 28, 2006

Russian Officials Discuss Consolidation of Universities in Two Regions

Russian officials have conferred with students and teachers at the universities of the Krasnoyarsk region of Siberia about the prospect of uniting the area’s universities into one Siberian Federal University. The newly created federal university would combine Krasnoyarsk State University, the Krasnoyarsk State Architectural and Building Academy, the Krasnoyarsk Technological University and the University of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold into one cooperative body. The project seeks to improve and integrate scientific research, business education, to attract and train researchers and increase the universities international prestige. Under the plan each institution would retain its name and specialty but function under the administrative umbrella of the Siberian Federal University. A similar plan to create Southern Federal University in Rostov-On-Don is also being considered.

— ITAR TASS
Dec. 13, 2006

Ukraine

Ukraine and Estonia Sign Agreement to Boost Cooperation in Education

Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko and Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves have signed a cooperative agreement to reinforce cooperation between the two nations in the field of education and scientific research.

— Trend
Dec. 13, 2006