Kazakhstan

Results of Higher Education Quality Audit Announced

The Kazakh Ministry of Education and Science has completed a quality audit of the nation’s institutions of higher education in collaboration with representatives of the National Security Committee and the Prosecutor General’s Office, according to a June report from the Kazakh Information agency.

From a total of 176 institutions of higher education (and 81 branches) a total of 143 (and 66 branches) were inspected. Medical and military institutions were excluded from the audit, as well as institutions accredited in 2007 and those that lost their licenses to operate. In May 2007, the ministry closed 33 tertiary institutions and 57 branches, and merged a number of others.

– AACRAO Transcript
September 20, 2007

Russia

Orthodox Christianity Finds its Way Back into the Curriculum

Nearly two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, religion has returned to public life with vigor, and many regions are increasingly decreeing that public school education should include a healthy dose of learning related to Orthodox Christianity, reports The New York Times. The new lessons have been introduced largely at the bidding of church leaders, who say that the enforced atheism of Communism left Russians without the sense of identity derived from Orthodoxy, which once defined the nation.

The church’s efforts are not without its critics, however. Opponents assert that the Russian Orthodox leadership is weakening the constitutional separation of church and state by proselytizing in public schools. They say Russia is a multiethnic, pluralistic nation and risks alienating its large Muslim minority if Russian Orthodoxy takes on the trappings of a state religion. The church calls those accusations unfounded, maintaining that the courses are cultural, not religious. Local officials carry out education policy under Moscow’s oversight, with some latitude. Some regions require the courses in Russian Orthodoxy, while others allow parents to remove their children from them, though they rarely, if ever, do. Other areas have not adopted them.

Polls show that roughly half to two-thirds of Russians consider themselves Russian Orthodox, a sharp increase since the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991. About 10 to 15 percent of Russians are Muslim, most of whom live in the south, though Moscow and other major cities have large Muslim populations. With emigration and assimilation, the Jewish population has dwindled to a few hundred thousand people, of 140 million. Muslim and Jewish leaders have generally opposed Russian Orthodoxy courses, though some say schools should be permitted to offer them as extracurricular activities.

– The New York Times
September 23, 2007

Former Soviet Nations Failing School Children

Millions of children in the former Soviet Union have seen a “catastrophic decline” in access to education since the fall of communism, according to a report by UNICEF, which states that more than 14 million children in the region get little or no formal schooling. Georgia, Tajikistan and Moldova are among the worst-affected nations. Much of Central Asia and eastern and Central Europe had attained universal access to education under communism, Unicef said. But despite the transition to democracy, economic growth and an increase in education spending in many countries, access to education has fallen.

Some 12 million children do not attend secondary school, and 2.5 million don’t even begin primary school.

The report, Education for Some More than Others?, found that inequality between rich and poor families was particularly marked. Racial inequality was also a problem in countries including Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, where a large proportion of Roma children received no schooling at all. Unicef found that in the region’s poorest countries – Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Tajikistan – less than 50 percent of children were in secondary education.

– The BBC
September 20, 2007

New Law Moves Universities Closer to European Standards

The State Duma in mid-October passed a bill that would overhaul the Russian higher education system to bring it more in line with that being introduced across Europe under the Bologna Process. On October 25, President Vladimir Putin signed the bill into law.

Under the new law, the current degree system — based on a five-year program – will be replaced with separate bachelor’s and master’s degrees that would take four and two years to complete, respectively. Supporters say the bill will make it easier for graduates of Russian universities to get their degrees recognized in Europe and ultimately help integrate them into the international labor market. Under the two-stage system outlined by the bill, professional training will be concentrated in master’s programs, and students who complete a bachelor’s degree will need to compete for spots in master’s programs if they want to continue their education. Changes to the degree system will take effect Sept. 1, 2009.

– The Moscow Times
October 8, 2007
– RIA Novosti
October 25, 2007

New Scholarships Announced to Attract More Foreign Students

Russian institutions of higher education currently teach more than 200,000 foreign students, and it continues to appeal to that demographic despite recent attacks and killings of overseas students by neo-Nazi groups in cities such as St. Petersburg and Voronezh. In a bid to maintain its appeal, the Russian government announced recently that it plans on increasing the number of scholarships awarded to foreign students. Currently, more than 7,000 scholarships for undergraduate and graduate studies in Russia are awarded each year.

Besides providing financial aid, Russian authorities are also making an effort to solve issues related to improving foreign students’ living conditions, including assistance with their employment during the course of studies.

The more than 200,000 foreign students in Russia come from 160 different countries; however, approximately 80 percent come from the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Ninety thousand of the international student body studies free of charge, and Moscow is the most popular destination with 43 percent of all applicants applying to schools in the capital. With 5,500 enrolled, Moscow State University hosts most foreign students. Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are the top three source countries. Beyond the CIS, Africa and Latin America are the top-sending regions.

– Moscow News
October 4, 2007