Regional
Central Asian Women Choosing Home over Classroom
For many girls in Central Asia, schooling ends after the secondary level. With poor job opportunities, many families in these post-Soviet republics choose not to invest in tertiary education for their daughters. In July, hundreds of thousand of secondary students graduated from schools across the region, and a much lower percentage of women will be preparing for postsecondary opportunities than their male counterparts.
With a majority of the region’s marriages arranged by parents, many young girls will be getting married as soon as secondary school is finished. This is in contrast to Soviet times when college-age girls entered centrally operated universities or colleges in much higher numbers. Back then, the ideal marrying age for those educated girls might have been 21 or 22.
RFE/RL reports that a lack of alternatives appears to be contributing to the declining trend in the age of brides. University education is not an option for many young women. Education is mostly free at many state colleges and universities in Central Asia. Still, not every family can afford expenses like dormitories or books. There is also a perception that female graduates still face a particularly tough job market.
– RFE/RL [1]
June 25, 2007
Kazakhstan
Ministry Drafting Law to Remodel Education System in Line with European Norms
The Kazakh Ministry of Education and Science [2] announced in late June that it is drafting a law that would drastically alter the nature of the nation’s education system to make it more compatible with the European model. Under the proposed new law, compulsory schooling would be extended from 11 to 12 years in 2008 as part of preparations to join the European educational reform initiative, known as the Bologna Process [3], in 2010. The Bologna Process is designed to set up a common higher education space where the systems used in different countries are compatible, making it easier for students to work and study abroad. As part of a pilot project, approximately 100 schools in Kazakhstan have already shifted to the new system.
Other changes proposed under the law would require compulsory national testing for teachers and the widespread use of interactive teaching methods.
– The Institute for War and Peace Reporting [4]
July 4, 2007
Exam Designed to Curb Corruption Forces Scammers to get Creative
The Unified National Test (UNT), which was established four years ago in an attempt to introduce standardized and transparent assessment procedures for university admissions, is failing to prevent endemic corruption in the Kazakh education system, with officials reportedly accepting bribes from secondary school students to let them pass, and data discs with answer codes being sold for thousands of dollars.
A pass in the test is necessary for university entry, and with tough competition for state-funded places at universities, there is pressure on students to obtain as high a score as possible. But despite the authorities’ attempts to control the test and prevent cheating, increasingly sophisticated scams are uncovered every year, with students being given more opportunities to pay to pass the exam.
This year, security measures at the center where information in the test is stored were increased and education ministry officials claimed a leak was practically impossible, as computers storing answers to the test were completely isolated, officers stood watch, and 16 security cameras were set up around the center. In spite of this, the press service of the Almaty National Security Committee reported on June 12 that the alleged organizer of a criminal gang had been arrested in Almaty, apparently distributing answers to questions – the first time anyone has been detained for such an offence. Lists of graduates’ names, as well as photocopies of their identification and passes to the test, were reportedly confiscated from the group, and a criminal case has now been opened.
– The Institute for War and Peace Reporting [5]
July 16, 2007
Russia
Yale University, Russian Archive to Open Stalin’s Papers to Researchers
The Russian State Archive of Contemporary Political History in Moscow and the Yale University Press [6] have struck a deal to digitize Stalin’s personal library and some 440,000 other documents. The press will also publish books — in both Russian and English — featuring research stemming from the library.
The archive includes Stalin’s copies of books by Lenin, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Leon Trotsky. The collection also includes correspondence between Mr. Stalin and important party functionaries from 1919 through 1952 — a period that covers the height of the Great Terror of the 1930s, World War II, and the germination of the Cold War. Researchers will also find letters from Stalin to foreign leaders, such as U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the American ambassador to the Soviet Union, Averell Harriman.
While some of the Stalin papers — including many concerning diplomacy, the secret services, and the military — remain top secret, the Soviet dictator’s personal library and hundreds of thousands of other papers were declassified and transferred to the contemporary political history archive in 2005.
The first documents will likely be made available for study in 2009.
– The Chronicle of Higher Education [7]
July 6, 2007
New Admissions criteria for Students from FSU Could Lead to Brain Drain in Central Asia
New admission rules for Russian schools and universities that make it easier for people from the former Soviet Union (FSU) to study there could lead to a brain drain in Central Asia, analysts warn. Published June 26, the new admissions rules state that citizens from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and a few other countries will be admitted on the basis of their own national education certificates, and the Russian authorities will issue special documents to confirm these papers are of equivalent status.
School-leaving certificates issued in Turkmenistan for the period 2001-07 when the authorities reduced mandatory schooling from the former Soviet standard of ten years to just nine will also be regarded as compatible. This will allow young people from Turkmenistan to complete their secondary school education in Russia. Diplomas and school-leaving certificates issued in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are automatically accepted as valid in the Russian system.
Observers polled by NBCentralAsia have welcomed Moscow’s move, noting that many young Central Asians are keen to continue their studies in Russia since the education systems in their own countries are still some way behind. However, some warn that the number of Central Asian students choosing to study and work in Russia will only increase from an already high level, leading to an exodus of talent from the region.
– The Institute for War and Peace Reporting [8]
July 4, 4007
National Engineering Accrediting Agency Joins Elite International Club
In June, the Russian Association for Engineering Education [9] was awarded provisional membership of the Washington Accord [10], an association of international engineering accrediting bodies from 12 mainly developed nations.
According to the Washington Accord Website, “a provisional member of the accord must demonstrate that the accreditation system for which it has responsibility appears to be conceptually similar to those of the other signatories of the Washington Accord. By conferring provisional status, the signatories have indicated that they consider the provisional signatory to have the potential capability to reach full signatory status; however, the awarding of provisional status does not in any way imply a guarantee of the granting of full signatory status.” Korean and Taiwanese accrediting bodies were accepted as full signatories with the AICTE announcement. Also receiving provisional status were the Institution of Engineers [11], Sri Lanka (IESL) and the National Board of Accreditation [12] under the All India Council for Technical Education.
The signatories of the Washington Accord are the Accreditation Board for Engineering & Technology [13] (USA); Accreditation Board for Engineering Education of Korea [14] (ABEEK); Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board of Engineers Canada [15] (CEAB-EC); Engineering Council of South Africa [16] (ECSA); Engineering Council UK [17] (ECUK); Engineers Australia [18]; Engineers Ireland [19]; Hong Kong Institution of Engineers [20] (HKIE); IEET [21] (Chinese Taipei); Institution of Engineers Singapore [22] (IES); Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand [23] (IPENZ); and Japan Accreditation Board for Engineering Education [24] (JABEE).
– Washington Accord news release [25]
June 22, 2007
Turkmenistan
Admission to Russian Universities Based in Part on Ruhnama Knowledge
Some of Russia’s best oil and gas higher educational institutions began in July to receive applications in Turkmenistan for the 2007-08 academic year. The list of the educational establishments, which was published in newspapers, includes the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas [26]; the Ufimsk State Technical University; the Tomsk Polytechnic University [27]; the Tyumen Oil and Gas University [28]; and Almetyevsk State Oil Institute [29].
An agreement to train 70 students from Turkmenistan at the Russian universities, training specialists in the oil and gas sector, was reached during a session of the Turkmen-Russian commission on economic cooperation held in mid July and will include tests on physics, mathematics and the Ruhnama (a book of philosophical ramblings by former president, Saparmyrat Niazov) in Turkmen as well as an interview in Russian.
– ITAR-TASS [30]
July 16, 2007