Training for Local Development: University of Central Asia (Part II)

By Bohdan Krawchenko

Read Part I here.

SPCE model and constraints

As a university unit, SPCE had to establish an academic practice commensurate with its standing. Moreover, a more rigorous approach to setting standards would improve learning outcomes and raise the status of professional and continuing education in the region. The main elements of the SPCE model and methodology can be summarised as follows:

1. SPCE is not confined to any discipline or field and can offer an array of programmes provided they are linked to the core mission, there is demonstrable demand, and institution capacity. The highest award it can offer is a ‘Diploma’ (120 ECTS credits) followed by the ‘Certificate’ (60 ECTS) level. For licensing purposes, courses at the certificate or lower levels do not require the curriculum to be accredited by the Ministry of Education. Given the highly directed nature of national curricula, SPCE’s regulatory status offers considerable room for innovation.
2. Courses and programmes are selected on the basis of need, market demand and feasibility analysis carried out by the SPCE staff. Because the delivery of programmes entails considerable effort, a defined procedure is followed in course selection. This process culminates with a Definitive Programme Document that outlines the fit with SPCE’s core mission, demand, curricula and syllabus, qualifications of instructors, cost of delivery, etc. If another provider offers a course at the appropriate level of quality, SPCE usually refrains from offering a similar course so as not to disrupt the local market and to encourage other providers to enter the field.
3. Educational programmes are delivered in modular, flexible learning formats to accommodate the needs of learners. Apart from those enrolled in vocational programmes, all learners study part-time, the only feasible option for young people and adults, as market research verified. The modular structure allows the resumption of study (if interrupted) without penalty. Because of the low internet penetration, distance online courses taken from home were not considered an option. In Kyrgyzstan, 50 percent of the population has internet access; in Tajikistan, 34 percent (2021) and access in small towns and rural areas is well below the national averages. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the first online courses were introduced and accounted for only 2.3 percent of enrolment (2019-20).
4. The delivery of courses offers learners the opportunity to pursue several programmes to build a set of qualifications, that make them more competitive in the labour market. For example, a learner can take IT, English, entrepreneurship and accounting. This aspect of SPCE plays an essential role in facilitating occupational mobility. SPCE is not an alternative to basic tertiary education. It plays a significant role, especially in the case of university students, in supplementing their education with a set of new skills and capabilities.
5. As a private institution, SPCE charges fees for all its courses. This is vital for the institution’s sustainability and is an indicator of the demand. The fee level reflects the population’s purchasing power and does not cover the total cost of operation. Although fees can be paid in instalments to ease initial cash outlay, it does deter some learners from enrolling. Some impactful programmes, such as the Certificate in Local Economic and Community Development taken by public officials, can only be offered because grants support them. SPCE now recovers around 70 percent of its costs through fees and grants in Central Asia and the deficit is covered by funding from the Aga Khan Development Network.
6. Benchmarking of courses and programmes in one of these three ways:
   a. External awards: In this case, SPCE delivers courses whose curriculum and examinations are set by an external agency. Those who pass receive an internationally recognised credential. Thus, for example, SPCE is a registered centre of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industries Examination Board, Cambridge Assessment English, International Computer Driving License Examination Centre and the Certificated International Professional Accountant Network. SPCE has developed a curriculum to prepare students to appear for examinations of the Certified International Professional Accountant Examination Network (CIPAEN).
   b. Engagement with partners: For example, SPCE’s English for Academic Purposes programme was developed with the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute, the University of Ottawa, which also trained and certified instructors.
   c. Internationally referenced: An examination of analogous offerings at reputable institutions worldwide and reviews by external experts is a requirement for all courses and programmes developed by SPCE that result in an internal award. For example, the Mountain Tour Operator Certificate programme. The constraining factors in expanding the ‘external’ approach to international benchmarking are examination costs and that, as a rule, the programmes and examinations offered by international bodies are in English. A successful example of the ‘external’ approach is ICDL. SPCE received the right to provide Russian and national tests, including Dari, and published learning resources in these languages to support instruction.
7. Assessment and granting of awards apply to all courses and programmes. In a region where corruption in higher education is pervasive, SPCE academic integrity practices are one of its distinguishing features and are closely monitored by the Central Office in Bishkek. Assessment is done even in the case of short-term introductory courses and results in awards, for example, Record of Achievement. This practice imbues a sense of seriousness to instruction and recognises even modest achievements that motivate learners to continue on the educational ladder. SPCE has a system of external examiners. One of the consequences of taking assessment seriously is a failure rate (20% in some programmes) that came as a shock to learners since, having paid fees, they felt an award was guaranteed. The fear that this would result in fewer applications was proved wrong. Instead, SPCE awards gained value because of these policies.
8. Instruction is in Russian or the national language. This is an obvious necessity for all courses, except foreign languages, to be delivered to the population. As a result, the involvement of expatriates in instruction is limited, and the development of national faculty is stressed.
9. Professional development of instructors is critical to establishing a stable, sustainable teaching environment. The entire staff of SPCE, including its management, comprises Central Asian nationals, and those working in campus towns are drawn from the communities creating a pool of local expertise that did not exist. Expatriates are engaged solely for the training of staff and curriculum development. With SPCE support, instructors must obtain relevant international certification in the topics they teach and are expected to acquire additional qualifications periodically. Competitive salaries and attractive working conditions ensure that qualified personnel remain with SPCE.
10. Provision of adequate learning sources to support teaching resulted in SPCE’s emergence as one of the region’s largest educational publishers. Since there were no commercially available textbooks (except for English language instruction), SPCE published some 350 textbooks and manuals in Russian and four national languages (including some ten books in Dari). Other institutions in the region use several of these textbooks. For example, Kazakhstan’s Union of Accountants and Auditors uses SPCE accounting textbooks in its courses. For its Local Economic and Community Development Programme, SPCE published Kyrgyz Academy of Management textbooks. One of the most successful publications was the English-Russian Glossary of Terms and Concepts in Public Policy, Public Administration and Public Economics (Bishkek: 2009, 498p), the first English-Russian glossary of terminology in these fields. Another singular contribution was the Russian – Kyrgyz – English Glossary of Terms and Concepts in Public Finance and Budget Process (Bishkek: 2012, 142p).
11. SPCE managed to establish a learning environment that was substantively different from that which prevailed in state institutions. This was expressed in the more open relationship between instructors and students, the availability of faculty for individual tutoring, and the way students were treated by the administration. The establishment of a ‘free educational zone’, as one observer in Khorog put it, is probably one of the more critical achievements of SPCE in the mountain towns.
12. The small population of the towns is a significant constraint on SPCE’s development. Some professional courses were paused after several batches graduated since demand in the local market for these qualifications was quickly exhausted. Given the absence of residential facilities, learners from other geographies cannot afford to attend classes because of housing, and SPCE cannot realise its potential to emerge as a regional centre. Population size also limits the bandwidth of programmes that can be developed. The poverty of the population places a ceiling on the fees that can be charged. The figures below provide some salient data for Khorog and Naryn. In Khorog, in 2015, 15 percent of the target population (15-55 years of age) had enrolled in an SPCE course, and in Naryn, 10 percent. These are quite high levels of market penetration. The average fee for a one-month, part-time course represented 15 percent of the monthly average wage in Khorog and 8 percent in Naryn.
13. Tapping the resources of other UCA schools: SPCE was the sole teaching programme for a decade until the campuses were launched (20216-17). However, the main campuses where the School of Arts and Sciences (SAS) delivers undergraduate education in English medium is in the first phase of development, with some 200 students per campus, each offering two majors and correspondingly, a small number of faculty.  However, SPCE has collaborated with SAS to improve English and IT programmes. It also uses research by the Graduate School of Development, for example, studies on SME, youth and labour market issues in its curriculum. On the whole, SPCE’s development is driven by its own capacities.

Enrolment and learner profiles

SPCE enrolment has seen steady growth since 2006, reaching 189,900 by 2021. Khorog accounts for 50 percent of the total. While the communities where SPCE operates share many common socio-economic characteristics, they are significantly different in terms of the levels of social mobilisation of the population.¹ Khorog, where Ismailis are the dominant majority, and Aga Khan Development Agencies have had a strong presence for several decades, gives SPCE a priori drawing power. Kyrgyzstan accounts for 20 percent of total enrolment, Tekeli in Kazakhstan, 12 percent, and Afghanistan, 12 percent. Women represent 53 percent of the total enrolment, almost 70 percent in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Overall, enrolment growth results from high levels of student satisfaction with their learning experience that bolster SPCE’s reputation, an entrepreneurial organisational culture that responds to needs and seizes opportunities, and the short-cycle format that allows for quick delivery of courses.

SPCE-Afghanistan is unique within the SPCE system because it is embedded in state educational establishments and, in effect, is a private-public partnership. Three of its Learning Centres are at Teachers Training Colleges located in remote mountain towns of the Badakhshan province. Apart from bringing educational opportunities to communities, these also upgraded the skills of college instructors and the facilities. In Faizabad, the capital of the province, SPCE fully manages a Continuing Education Unit located on the campus of Badakhshan University which is formally a part of the university structure. This arrangement has enabled SPCE to impact the province’s only university significantly. University faculty and students and some learners from the general population attend its English and IT courses. SPCE has played a significant role in advancing women’s education in Afghanistan – 40 percent of its learners are women (when the country’s average female enrolment in post-secondary education is 23%). SPCE continued its activities under Taliban rule and, in 2021, enrolled almost 7,000 learners, and women accounted for 47 percent of the total. SPCE continued its operations because of the strong support it receives from communities and local governments.

SPCE’s learner profile has been stable over the years. In Central Asia, women have always formed a solid majority of learners. In Turkic countries, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, with nomadic heritages, women account for two-thirds of total enrolment, and in Tajikistan, whose culture is Persianate, their representation is 55 percent. In Afghanistan, SPCE courses are offered in an ethnically Tajik region, which is a cultural factor in the relatively high enrolment of women. Young people under 19 years represent 56 percent of total enrolment (2021). (The under-24 age group forms some 55 percent of the total population (and over 60 percent in Afghanistan is under 18). Also, in each SPCE location, there are universities or colleges whose students take SPCE courses to enhance their education. Moreover, SPCE has developed multiple courses to meet its core goal of advancing the educational mobility of youth. Learners aged 19-25 and those over 25 years account for 22 percent and 23 percent of the enrolment, respectively. Most learners are students, around 55 percent, with those employed, self-employed or unemployed representing the other 45 percent.

Current programmes and courses

SPCE programmes operate on a modular system that gives learners greater flexibility and choice. Each module carries specific credits based on the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS).

Since 2006 SPCE, has developed 450 modules that are updated, some are dropped, and others added. The shelf-life of courses depends on demand. SPCE offers three awards – Professional Certificate, Certificate of Achievement and Record of Achievement. The first two involve multiple modules and generally last six to 12 months of part-time study, whereas the third award involves a single module. In some cases, learners receive an award from an external examination body.

Programmes fall within the following general fields:  applied languages, accounting, entrepreneurship, SME management using mini-technologies, accounting, technical and vocational education, communication, pedagogy and university preparatory programmes. The COVID-19 pandemic hastened capacity building to drive a digital shift at SPCE. Students taking courses online grew from 23 percent in 2020 to 75 percent in 2021.

One of the notable aspects of the programme structure is the number of English language courses. Until independence (1991), Central Asia was cut off from the outside world. When the doors opened, there was a burst of demand for English language programmes from multiple sectors of society. All governments in Central Asia set trilingual competency (nation language, Russian and English) as a core goal of the educational system, but of course, failed to provide the resources necessary to achieve this objective. SPCE English programmes are in high demand in this context. SPCE holds an international license from Cambridge Assessment English. Some 20 courses range from pre-beginner to English for Academic Purposes, or English for Business, IELTS and TOEFL preparation. There are courses for specific purposes such as health, tourism, media literacy, and customised offerings for public school teachers. SPCE also prepares learners to acquire the Cambridge Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults, the most requested credential by employers. SPCE also offers national languages and Russian courses for business purposes.

IT courses are based on the International Computer Driving License Foundation programmes. ICDL is the world’s leading computer skills certification organisation, originally established with the support of the European Union. ICDL offers courses at multiple levels of complexity. Millions of people have completed ICDL programmes in over 100 countries, and all SPCE campuses and Learning Centres, including those in Afghanistan, are ICDL-accredited testing centres. Because of agreements reached with ICDL, learners can sit for exams in various national languages, including Dari. The ICDL programme defines the skills and competencies necessary to use computer programmes at international standards. More recently, assisted by the staff of the campus undergraduate faculty, SPCE added courses, such as cyber security and python programming. IT courses have the second largest enrolment.

In recent years, SPCE developed three noteworthy impactful programmes. The first is the Academic Achievement Programme (AAP), a five-year after-school programme (grades 7-11) preparing students for university admission focusing on English, maths, IT and the development of soft skills. Offered in three countries, AAP is a proven pathway for the educational mobility of young people from mountain communities, with 96 percent of the 1,700 graduates gaining university admission. Over 130 graduates gained entry in a highly competitive process to UCA’s undergraduate programmes whose total enrolment in this phase is 400 students, and over 200 graduates were admitted to universities abroad. SPCE also has outreach courses to prepare for national university entrance examinations. In Kyrgyzstan, for example, in Naryn oblast, one of the poorest in the country, several hundred students take these courses, and their average score in the exams is consistently higher than the national average and that of Bishkek, the most prosperous part of the country.

SPCE has several short courses in entrepreneurship. However, one that has the best record in terms of starting or expanding a business is the Small Business Management using Mini-Technology certificate offering. It attracts participants because it is supported by an agreement with the Kyrgyz Investment and Credit Bank (an AKDN agency) to offer low-interest loans from a dedicated revolving fund. The bank benefits from good clients, and the loan repayment is close to 100 percent. The programme aims to foster businesses that add value and provide employment to others by applying least-cost technologies. In Naryn oblast, dozens of new businesses were established, such as dairy, large-scale poultry farms, bakery, construction and tourism companies. With donor support, Entrepreneurship Centres were launched in Naryn and Khorog that reach out to marginalised youth in rural communities and help them create self-employment opportunities through training, mentorship, and access to credit. Starting enrolment is 120 learners, 60 percent of who are women in each location.

Technical-vocational education and training (TVET) is Central Asia’s least developed educational sector. It was highly developed in the Soviet period and was underwritten by state enterprises. The economic collapse shook its foundations, and it needs new organisational principles. It is expensive to operate because it requires equipment and consumables and needs an apprenticeship component to offer learners real-work experience. TVET needs financial resources beyond the modest budgets the state provides, but regulations prohibit this. SPCE currently operates TVET programmes only in Khorog, where there are separate, purposeful premises that were in part built by learners. TVET is an apprenticeship-based programme that involves cycles of classroom and shop work and paid apprenticeships. It offers full-year programmes courses in construction carpentry, plumbing and metal work, automotive and electricity trades. There are also shorter courses on seismic resistant and energy efficient construction, water systems and mobile telephone repair. Teaching takes place in small groups of 12. Automotive training is particularly profitable because it specialises in autotechtronics and earns an income by servicing cars. Moreover, TVET facilities host a production cooperative which allows learners to connect with functioning businesses. One of the more popular products that came out of this collaboration was an eco-stove that warmed houses more efficiently and diminished environmental damage. Long-duration programmes enrol approximately 100 learners annually.

The package of SPCE programmes on offer is different in each location. The core is English, IT, entrepreneurship and university preparatory offerings. SPCE’s network allows for a lot of sharing of experiences and expertise. SPCE’s flexibility to mount courses and drop those not in demand makes it a vibrant institution. In the final analysis, SPCE’s ongoing ability to recruit fee-paying students happens because of a high level of student satisfaction. At the end of each programme or course, learners are asked to fill out an evaluation form in a process that guarantees anonymity. Over the years, the evaluations have given highly positive ratings for the quality of the educational experience. However, the highest rating was for the fairness and respect that the instructions showed towards learners (84% excellent and 10% good), which is a statement about the established educational culture.

Every second year, SPCE conducts an alumni survey to assess the courses from the perspective of time and their impact on the graduates’ futures. The 2021 survey of those who graduated in the last two years verified that 97 percent of the SPCE programmes exceeded or met their expectations.² In terms of career development, graduates reported that because of SPCE courses, 33 percent entered universities, 4 percent won international scholarships, 24 percent found new jobs, 15 percent received job promotions (and 28% recorded no change). SPCE courses had a direct financial impact, with 64 percent receiving higher monthly salaries after graduation and 16 percent starting or expanding businesses (20% indicated no change). Alumni are SPCE’s best recruitment agents; 99 percent indicated they would recommend SPCE to others.

Author
Bohdan Krawchenko is Dean, Graduate School of Development, University of Central Asia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan

Featured image by Jessie Nickell on Unsplash