I am a Public Policy major at UNC working on a indepedent research project in Central Asia this summer. I intend to learn more about the international scholarships different institutions, such as SOROS, British Council and the governments themselves provide to top students in Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. This includes learning about why these scholarships exist and what their impact is on the participants or even on the country. I choose these two countries because Tajikistan is the least developed and poorest of the 5 former-Soviet Central Asian republics and Kazakhstan is by far the wealthiest and arguably the most developed. I want to understand the range of issues facing higher education and felt that this was the best way.
I arrived in Dushanbe, Tajikistan's capital on June 15th. I spent 4 weeks in the Balkans before this and so took the first couple days to get settled and organize my time in Tajikistan. Since then I have been meeting with officers from different embassies and officials in different international organizations and the government, including the Deputy Minister of Education. I have learned a lot about higher education here in Tajikistan and am curious to compare it to that of Kazakhstan.
The most striking element in education here (and with the government itself) is the rampant corruption. I have talked to multiple students at many different universities, inside and outside of Dushanbe, who say bribing teachers is the norm. Students are confident that (there are exceptions of course) come exam time, they can pay their teachers $20-50 to receive a high mark on their exam and in the class. Indeed it is not just on students side, some teachers demand a bribe or else they threaten to fail them. With university teacher salaries at an average of $900-1000 a year, extra money to feed their familie via bribes is expected. This of course leads to very poor learning environment. I have spoken, err, tried to speak with students who graduated as English Language majors (as in the US, 4 years of study), who could not understand a word I spoke. This of course is not everyone, but it is very common place. It is no wonder why many students wish to enroll in foreign institutions.
I look forward to learning more and expect to receive some statistics from the Ministry of Finance soon and hope that they may give me more clarity about student enrollment and university profiles.
