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| October 2005 | Volume
18, Issue 5 |
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FEATURE FROM THE ARCHIVES Methods of Document Recognition and Authentication (Jan. 2003) REGIONAL
NEWS PRACTICAL INFORMATION FROM THE ARCHIVES Asian Students Have More Opportunities at Home (May 1999)
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Regional
News
Russia & The Commonwealth of Independent States Belarus 'Politicized’ Students to be Purged; Minister to Appoint Heads of Private Schools
The bill proposes a two-stage system of higher education. The first stage would take four to five years, with another year or two of training to complete a master's degree. The bill also makes mandatory a two-year job placement for university graduates, all of whom would be obliged to sign contracts with universities stating that if they fail to meet their work obligations they would have to repay the full costs of their education. The minister said there are currently 360,000 students enrolled in Belarusian institutions of higher learning, including 300,000 in state-run facilities. Radzkou’s comments regarding the politicization of higher education were in reference to a directive he issued in May, according to which educational institutions can expel students who participate in opposition demonstrations. The directive instructs tertiary institutions to conduct an investigation into any case of student participation in an unauthorized demonstration staged by opposition groups and take disciplinary action that could include expulsion. — RFE/RL Russia New Schools Planned in Chechnya — Russian News and Information Agency (RIA Novosti) 2 Years Added to Mandatory Schooling — ITAR TASS Violence Keeping Foreign Students at Bay St. Petersburg-based foreign students protested last fall after the death of a first-year medical student from Vietnam who had been beaten and stabbed by a mob of suspected white supremacists outside a subway station. Foreign students, especially those with dark skin, are regularly subjected to harassment and race-based assaults throughout the country. St. Petersburg and the city of Voronezh, approximately 300 miles south of Moscow, are recognized as the most dangerous cities. Approximately 11,000 foreign students currently attend Moscow universities, half the number of Russian graduates who leave to work abroad each year, the Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported in September. In St. Petersburg, there are an estimated 15,000 foreign students, while Russia as a whole is home to less than 3 percent of the world’s internationally mobile students, according to a recent Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development report. City officials estimate that Moscow-based schools bring in almost US$30 million in revenues from foreign students, while the city government spends more than $140.01 million on public education subsidies. Education officials who have commented on the low number of foreign students coming to Russia point to inadequate housing arrangements, violence, police brutality and Russia’s current economic instability. — Rossiiskaya Gazeta EU, Russia Strike Student Visa Deal British Prime Minister Tony Blair hosted President Vladimir Putin for a one-day European Union summit in London. According to statements made after the summit, visa rules for students (as well as businessmen and diplomats) will be eased in order to promote greater mobility between the two regions. Russia is a signatory of the Bologna Process, an initiative aimed at harmonizing educational systems and structures across member states. One of the main tenets of the Bologna Process is to greatly increase academic mobility. With the signing of this new deal, possibilities for academic mobility to and from Russia should be greatly improved. — The Associated Press Turkmenistan Only Muslim Department Closed Turkish staff teaching at the Islamic theology faculty of the main country’s university in the capital Ashgabat had their contracts terminated by a June 30 presidential decree, and 20 students attending a preparatory course were told their studies would not continue. When the university reopened this fall, the theology department was merged into the history faculty, and the number of students reduced. This move comes as part of a series of moves by Niazov to bring forth his doctrine, detailed in his book Ruhnama, which he has ordered placed next to the Koran in mosques. — Institute for War and Peace Reporting UkraineEducation Agreement Signed The ministers will concentrate their efforts on extending contacts and exchanging scientists, coordinating education and scientific institutions, coordinating experts from state education bodies in charge of the formation of the European educational space under the Bologna Process and increasing exchange quotas for students and young scientists to study and work in Ukraine and Russia. The agreement also specifies an increase in the teaching of the Russian language and Russian literature in Ukraine, and the Ukrainian language and literature in Russia. Also, it outlines a meeting between the heads of Ukrainian and Russian universities by the end of the year. Almost 1.5 million children study in Russian at Ukraine schools, the Ukraine Education Ministry said. — BBC Monitoring
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Education Minister Alyaksandr Radzkou announced to the Chamber of Representatives Oct. 3 that one of his ministry's duties is to ensure that the educational process is not "politicized," Belapan news agency reported. The same day he also introduced a bill on higher education that, if enacted, would empower the education minister to appoint and dismiss the heads of private institutions of higher education. 
