Formation of New Tasks and Strategies for the Future
Licensing and accreditation of higher education institutions. For several years now, a comprehensive system for the licensing and accreditation of educational institutions in the republic has been in development. In 1994, the State Inspection for Licensing and Accreditation of Educational Institutions of the Kyrgyz Republic was established under the Ministry of Education of the Kyrgyz Republic.
At present, almost all educational institutions in the republic have undergone licensing. However, this process requires improvement, as some educational institutions clearly do not meet the existing status. For example, there are private higher education institutions in the republic with the status of academy and university that do not meet the requirements for educational institutions of such level. Today, it is necessary to conduct accreditation for those educational institutions that received innovative status during the transformations of 1992-1994. Currently, mechanisms for the accreditation of educational institutions in the republic are actively being developed.
In the context of radical democratic reforms that have encompassed all areas of life in the Kyrgyz Republic, there is a pressing need to move to the next stage of development of the higher education system, which implies various depths of reform in its components.
The transition to a personality-oriented education and a competency-based approach to the formation of educational programs is planned, with a diversity of types and kinds of educational institutions and programs that facilitate the possibility for learners to choose the level and type of education, greater orientation of education towards market demands, and integration into the global educational space.
One of the sections of the strategic program "Comprehensive Foundations for the Development of the Kyrgyz Republic (KOR)" (1999) outlines promising directions for the development of education, as well as a system of medium-term and long-term measures that collectively represent a strategy for the further development of this sector for the prospective period until 2010.
To address the tasks set, in 2002, the "Concept for the Development of Education of the Kyrgyz Republic until 2010" was adopted, which defined the further stages of development of the education system.
It is fundamentally important, while carrying out centralized actions under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, to rely on the positive experience of higher education institutions achieved within the framework of their updated principle of university autonomy and independent establishment of joint-stock companies. It is possible and necessary to stimulate the creation of such structures, but it is categorically unacceptable to force this process from "above." It must mature in the specific conditions of the country and regions. It is crucial that the inevitable demographic explosion in the next two decades is maximally utilized for such improvement of the higher education system, so that the necessary reduction in the number of independent higher education institutions does not become an end in itself.
Without a doubt, the reform of the higher education system should be seen as a fundamental step towards the unfolding of a further process that encompasses both secondary schools and preschool education. Such a sequence is important, as any attempts to reorganize secondary schools before the necessary personnel capable of implementing reform in the school system are formed would be meaningless. In particular, there are grounds to believe that the qualitative improvement of the holistic process of education and upbringing in secondary schools requires educators who undergo a complete cycle of training in higher education institutions, including a master's program, the content of which requires special consideration.
