In order to keep the UK education sector updated on the market changes, priorities and give an overview of the situation with Covid-19 in Wider Europe, the International Education Services team in the region is pleased to present you with the following news. 

In this update we will give you an overview of the situation with Covid-19 in the Wider Europe countries, the pandemic effect on the education system, economy and other key areas of countries' development. 

Here are the changes at a glance: 

Kazakhstan – cautious relaxation of restrictive measures, Covid-19 cases up and down, vaccination since 1 February, blended method of delivery, new scholarship scheme under development, education policy changes expected

Turkey - Turkey imposes a weekday curfew and full weekend lockdowns are ongoing. Covid-19 cases are decreasing and there is currently a public debate on schools going back to face-to-face teaching in March.

Russia - Covid-19 recovery rates high, public places operate in limited capacity, Sputnik reaches more people, new education opportunties on the way 

Kazakhstan

Update 19 February 2021

Kazakhstan declared a state of emergency to curb the spread of the Covid-19 infection on 16 March through 11 May after the World Health Organization defined the spread of the coronavirus as a pandemic.

Since then, Kazakhstan has seen a number of restrictive measures being taken in order to hold the spread of virus, yet it had to allow businesses to reopen by following some sanitary requirements which include social distancing, wearing masks, limited number of people in one room, etc.

Quick summary in February:

• Currently, the number of people infected with Covid-19 has been increasing in Kazakhstan. The daily rate of infected people is around 800 people. The total number of infection cases is over 253,000 and lethal cases is 3,144 since the start of pandemic.
• Public places have been gradually reopening in Kazakhstan, e.g. cinemas, theatres and school canteens are allowed to operate at 30% of their full capacity.
• Kazakhstan is discussing the reopening of it is borders with Russia and other countries in the Eurasian Economic Area. The number of international flights is growing day by day, at the moment flights in/out Kazakhstan are possible with Turkey, UAE, Korea, Egypt, Sri Lanka, etc.
• The production of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V in Kazakhstan was approved by the Intergovernmental Commission of the two countries and it has been used for vaccination of the population since 1 February. It is expected that over 90,000 of vaccine doses will have been shipped across the country by the end of February.

School and universities

By the end of quarantine regime, educational institutions remained closed. Kazakhstani students at all stages of their education finished the 2019/20 academic year online.

Education in Kazakhstan in the 2020/21 academic year started remotely utilising local and international online learning and collaboration platforms.

Since the beginning of second term, schools, further education, and higher education institutions have been using the mixture of online and offline delivery. The quarantine requirements state that education institutions can have only 50% of their all students on a given day and a classroom can contain only 30% of students at a time.

Policy changes in education are expected as the government has set an aim to fulfil its strategy up until 2025. President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met the current Minister of Education and Science Askhat Aimagambetov to discuss the state of education in times of Covid-19. As a result of the meeting, the President instructed the Ministry to work on the construction of 200 new schools, increase of teacher salaries by 25 per cent, improvement of the quality of higher education and development of academic freedom at higher education institutions.

Kazakh school students were banned to study online at foreign secondary schools. During the pandemic, there was a big number of pupils changing Kazakhstani schools to foreign secondary education establishments, which made the government adopt a legislation that does not recognise "online studies" at foreign schools because of the difference in curricula. In times as such where offline studies are not fully possible, Kazakhstani school students can only study online at state or accredited international schools based in Kazakhstan. If they wish to study with an overseas school, they will need follow the set guidelines and legislation on studying at foreign secondary education institutions.   

Student financial support

The Bolashaq International Scholarship scheme list of approved institutions is now being revised, the new list is due to be out in March (TBA). Once the new list is approved by the Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan, we will organise an exclusive refresh meeting for UK institutions.

The new scholarship scheme for research students is going to be launched this year and the administrator of the governmental scholarship scheme is going to be JSC “Centre for International Programmes”, who is the current administrator of Bolashaq International Scholarship. It is expected that the new scheme will allow over 500 scholars to undergo internship programmes at overseas education institutions and companies.

Economic situation

The decline in the mining industry was due to a 12.3 per cent reduction in oil production as part of the fulfilment of obligations under the OPEC + agreement. This resulted in Kazakhstan's GDP in January being underperforming with the decrease of -4.5 per cent, Minister of National Economy Asset Irgaliyev said during a government meeting on 16 February.

The annual inflation rate has reached 7.4 per cent in January, the Minister of National Economy also reported.

The World Bank predicts that the economy of Kazakhstan will grow by 2.5 per cent in 2021, according to Samsu Raharja, Senior Economist of the World Bank office in Kazakhstan, who was presenting World Bank’s report "A Long Way to Recovery after the Crisis."

Country activities:

• Study UK Alumni Awards 2020-21
• Kazakhstan & Russia Agents Meetings with UK Institutions – more details upon request
• Digital Marketing Services – more details upon request

Contact

For more information and insights about the Covid-19 situation in Kazakhstan, please contact Zhanaidar Duzgenbay, International Education Services Coordinator, Kazakhstan at Zhanaidar.Duzgenbay@britishcouncil.org.

Russia

Update 19 February 2021

Overview:

The situation in Russia is improving, with daily cases becoming lower (around 14K) and recovery cases increasing (around 22K). Moscow and St Petersburg remain the cities with highest numbers of positive Covid cases - around 1.5K in each city. Regions have an average of 200 cases per region. The majority of businesses are operating as usual with some restrictions in place. Masks and gloves regime remains in place in most areas, however, regions are given the authority to abolish it guided by the local data, and some regions have started to do so. 

In large cities large scale events are still prohibited, but theatres, cinema and concert halls can work with up to 50% capacity. In Moscow and St.Petersburg some restrictions have been lifted for the nighttime (from 11pm to 6am) including opening up bars, restaurants and entertainment establishments. The requirement to transfer at least 30 per cent of employees to remote work is no longer mandatory, but is recommended. Museums, libraries and exhibition centres have recently reopened in Moscow.

The vaccination campaign against the coronavirus is in full swing, 2.2 million have already received the first dose of Sputnik vaccine. The number of vaccination hubs is growing, and people aged 60+ have been identified as a priority group for vaccination by the RF Ministry of Health, second and third groups of include key workers - medics, teachers, transport sector, military people, police, as well as civil servants. Vaccination from Covid has been added to the list of national calendar of vaccinations.

Internal travel is operating, regular international flights are resumed with several countries by now: UK, Turkey, Tanzania, Montenegro, Egypt, UAE, Maldives, Greece and Switzerland (limited), Belorussia, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Serbia, Japan and Cuba, Maldives, UAE, South Korea, Egypt, Ethiopia, Seychelle islands. Flights to and from the UK are banned until 16 March 2021. Covid-19 tests are made in the airports upon arrival to Russia. Foreigners who need to come to Russia require a Covid-19 medical test result taken no more than 72 hours before the flight. Self-isolation for 14 days for foreigners is not required.

IELTS centers are open. UK visa centres are open all over Russia. other visa centres are resuming their work. International flights with the UK are available for all the purposes.

Schools and universities

Schools: At schools F2F regime was resumed on 18 January. Masks are not required at schools, the timing of lessons and breaks was changed. Temperature is measured upon entering an educational institution.

HEIs: F2F education in HEIs resumed on 8 February. HEIs are operating with safety measures in place (temperature is measured upon entrance, face masks are obligatory). This measures are expected to continue until 2022. Online courses by local universities continue to be developed.

International students studying in Russia, if studying F2F, will have to pass the Covid-19 test. If there is no opportunity for international students to start studying F2F, studying online will be available. From 2020/2021 academic year it has become easier for international students studying in Russia to be employed during their studies.

Education agents have reported that UK remains the first choice for students and the demand for studying abroad is expected to increase for September 2022 intake.

Blended learning development:

Online education is planned to be delivered all over Russia by 2024. Blended learning has proved to be a new trend in education that should be embedded in a new education strategy. Many universities are planning to continue blended learning, exploring replacing face-to-face lectures with online courses when further developed in five years. Russian MOOC platforms will also be developed further. 

Many leading universities are planning to increase independent online course production, with the intention of making them partly open to public free of charge.

New educational programmes & opportunities for partnerships:

“Strategic academic leadership programme” is a new Russian reform in education that will replace Project 5-100 starting from 2020. It is based on the importance of science and higher education for achieving national development goals, which includes becoming a top five world economy by developing innovative businesses. The reform will involve over 100 leading universities in over 50 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Thus it creates opportunities for joint research as well as TNE. Another fundamental aim of the reform is for Russian leading universities to achieve high standings in established educational rankings (THE, QS etc.).

By 2024 it is planned to implement the national project "Education". According to it Russian education should become more attractive for foreigners. So, in the next few years, thanks to the Federal project "Export of education", the number of foreign students in domestic universities will double to 425 thousand people. A total of 784.5 billion rubles were allocated for the national project. The project aims to ensure the global competitiveness of Russian education, as well as Russia's entry into the top ten countries for the quality of General education.

Economy:

Although Covid-19 has weakened the Russian economy by 3-4 per cent in GDP, mainly due to the significant reduction of exports, stabilisation of the economy is predicted thanks to large national projects, trade recovery in 2021, mass vaccination, and agreements with OPEC. 

Fitch predicted the Russian currency will strengthen its position against the dollar in 2021 and 2022. The Agency assumes that in 2021, the dollar will cost an average of 70 rubles, and in 2022 — 69 rubles. The Agency also improved the outlook for the Russian economy as a whole.

Other relevant information:

VTSIOM published the results of a survey, according to which every sixth person expressed a desire to leave the country with 40% among youth aged 18-24 and 31% among aged 25-31 (7 September 2020)

Contact:

For more information and insights about the Covid-19 situation in Russia, please feel free to contact Daria Lavrentieva lavrentieva@ecmcentre.com and Elizaveta Utolina Elizaveta.Utolina@britishcouncil.org.

Turkey

Update 19 February 2021

Weekday curfews and full weekend lockdowns are ongoing since 4 December. Limited public places are open (restaurants and cafes are only open for take-away) with temperature checks and physical distancing rules in place. Wearing a mask is compulsory in public areas.

City based case numbers are now being published and a new location based, risk level model for determining restrictions will be applied. Risk ratings of cities will be based on case and vaccination numbers.  

Most international flights are ongoing with most European Union destinations still closed to Turkish citizens.

All passengers are required to undergo a PCR test coronavirus.

Mass vaccination with Chinese Sinovak is in progress, to date, over 3.5 per cent of the total population has been vaccinated.

Economic outlook in Turkey

The GBP-Turkish lira exchange rate remains 10 TRY whereas USD and EURO weakened against Turkish Lira. Government’s support in business is weak. Therefore, there is a lot of pressure on lifting the weekend lockdowns to allow business’ to open fully in March.

Unemployment rate is in a decline trend realising as 12.7 per cent in November 2020. Unregistered employment is traditionally quite high, currently 31 per cent. Unregistered unemployment rate is also high. Youth unemployment rate realised as 24.9 per cent, employment rate realised as 30.6 per cent. (Ref: TUIK,11 January 2021)

According to the study ‘Investigation of Youth Unemployment in Turkey with Spatial Interaction’ the unemployment rate in the youth population (ages 18-24) is much higher than the general unemployment rate. (Ref: Unregistered employment, June 2017)

School and university closures

Over 26 million students are affected by Covid-19, including 18 million school students and 8 million higher education students.

Schools

There is a hot public debate on schools to resume face-to-face education as of 1 March. Government announced that gradual return to face-to-face education decision would be based on cities risk levels.

Ministry of National Education (MoNE) is planning to open schools in March and students will be required to sit for their exams for semester 1 on their return.

Universities

The delivery mode of teaching at universities is hybrid, a combination of online and face-to-face teaching/activities for small groups those are required for applied science courses.

Council of Higher Education (CoHE) run a mass survey (1.3 million responses were collected) to analyse the effectiveness of distance learning.  With the advice of Ministry of Health CoHE published a guidance for the HE sector to decide on their teaching model for semester two.

International Student Mobility

Ministry of National Education (MoNE) scholars who are currently enrolled to a UK HE programme are advised to do their studies online except those who are required to attend a laboratory classes or undertake any field work in the UK. New cohort of scholars for 2021-22 academic year were selected and soon will start submitting their applications.

GREAT Scholarships for a Sustainable Future: As part of COP26 five scholarships, offered by Anglia Ruskin University, Cranfield University, University of East Anglia, University of Essex and University of Glasgow are available for Turkish students to do masters in the UK in climate change specific subjects for autumn 2021 admissions with £10K provided. We are running a local campaign parallel to the centrally managed campaign.

We met the cultural offices of competitor countries to update each other on developments in our markets early February.

U.S.: Decline in number of Turkish students studying in the US by 16 per cent and decline in number of new enrolments by 43 per cent. Post pandemic boom is expected.

Canada: 1,700 visas were issued by the end of November 2020. 4,750 visas were issued in 2019. Parents and students recognise the success of Canada managing the Covid-19 situation.

Australia and New Zealand: Both countries' borders are closed and are strict with the border control.  Australia is seen as a safe country to travel and they expect to be preferred study destination after the pandemic.

EU: Netherlands' Neso Turkey was closed down. The Consulate is working on their new strategy in education.

Germany: Interests are growing.

Most of the missions attended local virtual fairs. The common feedback is unfortunately low quality of students and poor attendance.

We are organising the Study UK School Counsellors Workshop to bring together counsellors and UK institutions virtually w/c 22 March. The event will serve as a discussion platform between school counsellors and HE institutions to understand both parties’ expectations and identify next steps.

We run a survey for school counsellors to understand their concerns. The areas below will be addressed during the School Counsellor workshop.

• Scholarships
• List of approved high schools in Turkey, formed by UK Higher Education Institutions.   How can institutions assess an application from a school that are not in their approved school list?
• The importance of holistic application in the UK universities (balance between personal statement, IELTS score, GPA, referee input in UCAS)
• Qualifications and English Language Tests that are accepted by the UK HEIs; e.g. AP, IB, AP Capstone diploma, SAT Subject exam results
• Key skills which employers: universities are looking for
• "Contact time" and difference of teaching/ learning style between US and UK unis.

UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI)

UKVI have agreed with the Visa Application Centres (VACs) managed by TLS Contact to reduce the opening hours of their visa application centres with effect from the 1 March. The VACs in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir will return to opening three days a week on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays.

Contact

British Council direct marketing services, including digital promotion, remain available to help the UK institutions engage with students and retain a presence in Turkey.

For more information, please contact Semra Yalcin Dogan, Education Services Manager, International Education Services, British Council at Semra.Yalcin@britishcouncil.org.tr.