Key Indicators of Higher Education Reform and Their Effectiveness Over 15 Years
Today, the issues of accessibility and quality of education are at the heart of educational reforms in the Kyrgyz Republic. Thanks to the reform policy, the national education system has managed to maintain the sustainability of its development in a short time, establish a variety of educational programs at all levels of the educational ladder, offer alternative forms and new teaching technologies, achieve multi-channel funding, and carry out decentralization of the management system and its democratization.
Other national programs have also been directed towards ensuring accessibility and quality of education — presidential programs "Personnel of the 21st Century" (1995), national poverty alleviation programs "Araket" (1998), "Ayalzat" (1997), "Madeniyat" (1996), and others. These programs have defined and continue to define the main directions of education in recent years. The state education doctrine was discussed in May 2000 at the international conference "Education and Youth at the Turn of the Century" and was approved by the Decree of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic in August of the same year. Based on the doctrine, a program for the development of education until 2025 was developed.
The network of higher educational institutions in the republic continues to expand, driven by the increasing demand for educational services from the population. In 1990, there were nine higher educational institutions with a total student body of only 58.8 thousand people, while by 2004, the number of universities had increased almost sixfold, and the student body had grown by 3.7 times. This indicates a significant improvement in the commonly accepted indicator of the population's education level, namely the number of students per 10,000 population. In 1990, this indicator in Kyrgyzstan was 130, while in 2005 it was 410.
To ensure accessibility to higher education for the population of all regions of the republic, a regional principle for the placement of universities is used. In 1991, 80% of all universities were located in the capital (Bishkek), now they make up 70%, and 53% of all students in the country study there. Structural and qualitative transformations in the higher education network are aimed at strengthening the connection between education and demographic and social changes. The number of specialties has doubled (now there are over 200) for which specialists are trained. Multi-level training programs have been introduced. The bachelor's program is implemented in 22 universities, and master's programs in 9 universities.
To ensure the introduction and implementation of a multi-level system of higher education, the state educational standard "Higher Education. General Requirements" and the state "Classifier of Directions and Specialties of Higher Professional Education" have been developed and put into effect. The entire structure of its components has been formed, that is, the fundamental state standards for all levels of higher education: basic higher education (bachelor's training), complete higher education (master's and specialist training). Currently, in accordance with the "Agreement on Cooperation in the Formation of a Unified Educational Space of the CIS Countries," state professional standards for higher education of the second generation have been developed.
The higher education system of the Kyrgyz Republic has become an open system that successfully adapts to the conditions of a free market. It offers a wide range of educational professional programs that differ not only in specialties, as before, but also in levels of education, duration of study, specializations, forms, and objectives of education. Alongside traditional programs for training specialists, the preparation of bachelor's and master's degrees, as well as the implementation of educational programs from foreign countries, has become the norm for universities.
This diversity of educational services has significantly expanded the opportunities for realizing citizens' constitutional rights to higher education and choosing the trajectory of professional education. It meets the demands of market relations and primarily serves the interests of citizens, who, in a competitive labor market, can vary their professional education. This also allows educational institutions to optimally plan educational services based on labor market needs and demand for education, as well as their financial and staffing capabilities, forming the student body across various directions, specialties, durations, and forms of education.
The practice of higher education has successfully implemented first-level higher education programs with mandatory state certification. At this level, general scientific, humanitarian, socio-economic, and fundamental natural science training of students is carried out, including foreign language and computer technology training, based on which variable professional training programs are formed in the senior years.
At the regulatory level, it has been possible to form a state component of the basic level of education across all directions and specialties. By ensuring the proper quality of implementation and compliance with the requirements for this component of programs, a sufficiently high theoretical level of fundamental, general professional, legal, and socio-economic training of graduates is achieved.
Thus, the structure of educational programs in the higher education system of the Kyrgyz Republic has formed over the years of independence into a coherent system of interacting, sequential educational programs that adequately considers the Model Law "On Education," adopted by the resolution of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the CIS member states.
