Kyrgyz Universities to Up Their Game
Kyrgyz Universities to Up Their Game
Kyrgyzstan’s decision to move towards Europe-wide educational standards will be a costly exercise in terms of retraining university staff and generating teaching materials, but it should make the country’s students far more competitive on the world job market, say NBCentralAsia observers.
On June 26, Kyrgyzstan’s education and science ministry opened an information and resource centre which will disseminate the principles of the Bologna Process throughout the country’s universities.
Twenty-nine European countries signed up to the Bologna Declaration in 1999. It aims to create a “European Higher Education Area” by introducing common academic standards, making university degree course in different countries more comparable with undergraduate degrees taking four years and master’s degrees one or two years, and creating a “credits” system where students can accumulate and transfer points.
The idea is to make it easier for students to work and study abroad.
The Bologna process also places a strong emphasis on self-study and NBCentralAsia observers say Kyrgyzstan will have to raise substantial funds to make academic courses available online, set up e-libraries and train staff to teach according to the new system.
Observers say the money will, however, be well spent and the quality of education will rise, broadening the opportunities available to students.
Asel Isaeva, a staff member at the National Centre for Information Technology, says students will have a wider choice of courses to choose from and will gain more in-depth knowledge from better qualified teachers as competition between universities grows.
She hopes that the Bologna Process will not only help Kyrgyzstan shift to international academic standards, but also make university education within the country more homogenous.
While some universities have partially shifted to European or American systems where it takes four years to complete an undergraduate degree, others have kept the Soviet model, which takes five years.
“Our five-year diplomas are not recognised in the western system, so it is desirable to become part of the world education community through the Bologna system,” Isaeva explained.
Nine former Soviet countries including Russia have signed up to the Bologna Process, and Kyrgyzstan and Kazakstan are about to join.
Gaisha Ibragimova, an international education expert, says the main challenge for Kyrgyz education is changing the attitude students have towards learning.
Professors tend to spoon-feed their students under the current system, but they will have to be taught how to use resources on their own.
“Unfortunately, our educational system developed in such a way that it is based on work done within the university, where students attend lectures and receive the knowledge that their lecturers impart to them. Students have virtually no responsibility for their own personal growth,” said Ibragimova.
Becoming part of the Bologna Process will be both costly and time-consuming, she said, as it will require a change in culture.
Marat Kazakbaev, senior lecturer in politics at the Kyrgyz Russian Slavonic University, said Kyrgyzstan does not currently have the resources to handle a shift from lecture-theatre teaching to online courses, and new technical facilities will have to put in place at great cost.
Teaching staff and students will also have to change their way of thinking if they are to absorb western educational standards – and this will take time, he said.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
On June 26, Kyrgyzstan’s education and science ministry opened an information and resource centre which will disseminate the principles of the Bologna Process throughout the country’s universities.
Twenty-nine European countries signed up to the Bologna Declaration in 1999. It aims to create a “European Higher Education Area” by introducing common academic standards, making university degree course in different countries more comparable with undergraduate degrees taking four years and master’s degrees one or two years, and creating a “credits” system where students can accumulate and transfer points.
The idea is to make it easier for students to work and study abroad.
The Bologna process also places a strong emphasis on self-study and NBCentralAsia observers say Kyrgyzstan will have to raise substantial funds to make academic courses available online, set up e-libraries and train staff to teach according to the new system.
Observers say the money will, however, be well spent and the quality of education will rise, broadening the opportunities available to students.
Asel Isaeva, a staff member at the National Centre for Information Technology, says students will have a wider choice of courses to choose from and will gain more in-depth knowledge from better qualified teachers as competition between universities grows.
She hopes that the Bologna Process will not only help Kyrgyzstan shift to international academic standards, but also make university education within the country more homogenous.
While some universities have partially shifted to European or American systems where it takes four years to complete an undergraduate degree, others have kept the Soviet model, which takes five years.
“Our five-year diplomas are not recognised in the western system, so it is desirable to become part of the world education community through the Bologna system,” Isaeva explained.
Nine former Soviet countries including Russia have signed up to the Bologna Process, and Kyrgyzstan and Kazakstan are about to join.
Gaisha Ibragimova, an international education expert, says the main challenge for Kyrgyz education is changing the attitude students have towards learning.
Professors tend to spoon-feed their students under the current system, but they will have to be taught how to use resources on their own.
“Unfortunately, our educational system developed in such a way that it is based on work done within the university, where students attend lectures and receive the knowledge that their lecturers impart to them. Students have virtually no responsibility for their own personal growth,” said Ibragimova.
Becoming part of the Bologna Process will be both costly and time-consuming, she said, as it will require a change in culture.
Marat Kazakbaev, senior lecturer in politics at the Kyrgyz Russian Slavonic University, said Kyrgyzstan does not currently have the resources to handle a shift from lecture-theatre teaching to online courses, and new technical facilities will have to put in place at great cost.
Teaching staff and students will also have to change their way of thinking if they are to absorb western educational standards – and this will take time, he said.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
