Russia

Educating a Generation of Oil and Gas Experts

Prompted by concerns that Russia’s higher education system has not been able to keep up with advancements and growth in its oil and gas industries, a new European Union-funded comparative study is being put out to tender with an expected start date of next year. The study, Building Capability in Russian Educational Institutions, seeks to look at ways of improving Russia’s ability to produce specialist graduates in the field. The study is being funded under the EU-Russia Energy Dialogue.

The study is expected to identify to what extent current specialist teaching fits the EU-Russia energy strategy, compare training and standards systems in the field, and recommend ways to bridge the gap including the possibility of establishing pilot projects for introducing European-style standards into specialist Russian oil and gas training institutes.

– University World News
September 28, 2008

Student Loan Programs Frozen as Credit Markets Dry Up

Hundreds of Russia’s top students fear possible expulsion from their universities for failing to pay tuition fees after their student loans were frozen amid the global financial crisis, which has hit the Russian economy particularly hard.

Well under 1 percent of the country’s 7 million students receive financial aid, an infant industry in Russia, but many of those that do represent a large percentage of the nation’s top academic talent, according to the Moscow Times, with many enrolled in top universities.

At risk are students with loans from a program called Kredo, which is underwritten by the company Krein and has been offered through Soyuz Bank since 2003. The loans are offered to students at 21 prestigious state institutions. A total of 4,400 students have received the loans, of which 3,500 are currently students, according to figures from Kredo.

Now students are finding the bank unable to furnish promised funds. President of the Higher School of Economics, Yaroslav Kuzminov, expressed anxiety about the loan situation in a statement in mid-October and said Krein representatives had told him that “the bank is taking measures to carry out its obligations on the loans.” He asked the affected students to sign an agreement postponing their tuition payments until Dec. 15.

Universities currently insist that they have no intention of expelling students over the frozen loans. But some schools — and many students — are worried about the uncertainty surrounding the loans. The reasons for the loan problems are unclear. The delays are “temporary and technical in nature,” Kredo general director Mikhail Matrosov told Interfax earlier this month. He ascribed them to the “general situation on the world’s financial markets.”

As part of the government’s anti-crisis program, it has pledged support for banks that offer student loans, a Kremlin spokesman told RIA-Novosti. The Kredo program has been partially underwritten by the Education and Science Ministry since February this year in what official documents describe as an “experiment.” The ministry guarantees 10 percent of the loans to the underwriter, Krein, in case the student is unable to pay.

– Moscow Times
October 24, 2008

Turkmenistan

Government Promises IT Revolution

Turkmenistan is making efforts to modernize and improve its IT and telecommunications systems, however, observers say internet access remains highly problematic. At a meeting of telecoms chiefs from the Commonwealth of Independent States in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, on September 24-25, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov spoke of a major drive to achieve progress, so that “the internet and modern communications technologies become available to everyone in Turkmenistan”.

Berdymuhammedov was elected in February 2007 following many years of international isolation under the autocratic and cult-of-personality leadership of Saparmurat Niazov. Two months after his accession, Berdymuhammedov issued instructions for internet access to be made available even “in all kindergartens.”

Subsequently, computer classes started up in educational institutions, and internet cafes opened in Ashgabat and the main regional towns. Local observers say there are now about 20 internet cafes around the country, an improvement; however, it remains difficult for the average person to get access to the internet.

“Since the ‘online thaw’ began, huge numbers of people have applied for a home internet connection,” a Turkmentelecom engineer told NBCCentralAsia. “At the moment we’re unable to keep up with the demand.”

The service that consumers do receive is said to be highly unreliable, while access to certain content is also said to be tightly monitored by the government.

– Institute of War and Peace Reporting
September 26, 2008