PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME

Regional Workshop on Higher Education in Central Asia in Transition
10 Years After – Experiences, Lessons and Future Strategies,
Almaty, Kazakhstan, 16-18 September 2002

DAY 1: 13 September 2002

09.00 – 10.00 Opening
10.00 – 10.30 Group Picture and Coffee
10.30 – 11.30 Keynote Speech or Background briefing by the
Programme Specialist in Higher Education from the
Regional Bureau
11.30 – 12.30 Presentation of country reports from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (20 minutes for the country report and 10 minutes for the university case study. This is applied also to presentations of country reports and university case studies from other participating countries)
12.30 – 14.00 Lunch
14.00 – 15.00 Presentation of country report from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan
15.00 – 15.30 Coffee
15.30 – 17.00 Presentation of country report from Turkmenistan, China and Russia

DAY 2: 14 September 2002

09.00 – 10.30 Group Discussion
Group 1: Experience gained, lessons learned and recommendations on formulating new visions, objectives and strategies on HE for policy-makers to face the challenges of the new century at the national level:
- legislation,
- quantitative expansion,
- mechanisms and standards for accreditation, quality assurance and mutual recognition of qualifications,
- diversification of funding,
- demand of and responses from the labour market and employment and unemployment of graduates,
- restructuring and innovation of programmes and courses,
- recruitment, upgrading and income of teachers and administrators,
- mechanisms, incentives and freedom for scientific research in universities,
- policies for the establishment, accreditation, quality assurance and management of private universities,
- autonomy, accountability and new relationships between government and universities
Group 2: Experience gained, lessons learned and recommendations on formulating new visions, objectives and strategies for universities to face the challenges of the new century at the institutional level:
- quantitative expansion,
- mechanisms and standards for accreditation, evaluation and quality assurance,
- autonomy, accountability and new relationships between the government and the university,
- diversification of funding of the university,
- demand of and responses from the labour market and employment and unemployment of your graduates,
- restructuring and innovation of programmes and courses,
- recruitment, upgrading and income of teachers and administrators,
- mechanisms, incentives and freedom for scientific research in the university,
- international collaboration, programmes and mutual recognition of credits and qualifications,
- competition and partnership building between public and private universities.
10.30 – 11.00 Coffee
11.00 – 12.30 Group Discussion continued
12.30 – 14.00 Lunch
14.00 – 15.30 Group Discussion continued and preparation of group report
15.30 – 16.00 Coffee
16.00 – 17.00 Continued

DAY 3: 15 September 2002

09.00 – 11.00 Report on the debate in group discussions,
conclusions and recommendations and continuing debate on challenging issues in the formulation of new strategies
11.00 – 11.30 Coffee
11.30 – 12.30 Group report and debate continued
12.30 – 14.00 Lunch
14.00 – 15.00 Adoption of report
15.00 – 16.00 Closing