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 – Covid-19 statistics and vaccination rollout, schools year to commence offline, general overview of education sector, Kazakhstan-UK direct flights to resume

Turkey - Covid-19 daily cases increase, schools and universities planned to be opened in September

Kazakhstan

Update 24 July

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 the beginning of August:

• Covid-19 infected people have been on the rise since the beginning of August which led to the reclassification of nearly all regions under the ‘red’ or ‘deep red’ zones. To fight the spread of the virus, the government is reintroducing some of the restrictive measures including curfew hours for businesses, social distancing, mobile application to track infected people, etc.
• The number of Covid-19 infected people at the moment comes to 127,404 people. The total number of cases, including those who have recovered, has come to over 743,000 since the beginning of pandemic in spring 2020.
• The vaccination campaign carries on with over 5 million people of the whole population of 18 million who have been fully vaccinated, i.e. have been vaccinated with both components. There are over 1.3 people who will need to do their second jab over the course of next three weeks. The vaccination has been taking over the country rather slowly compared to other countries succeeding with the Covid-19 vaccine campaigns.  
• There are several free vaccines available in Kazakhstan: Sputnik V, locally developed and produced QazVac and Sinopharm (UAE & China joint vaccine). Kazakhstan is also in negotiation with Pfizer to start importing the US-based vaccine in the third quarter of this year. It is expected that Pfizer’s vaccine will arrive in the country around October. However, it is not yet clear whether the vaccine will be free or paid for those willing to be inoculated with it.
• The measures introduced by the government to encourage vaccination don’t seem to be efficient since the total number of vaccinated people is at 6,369,263 at the time of reporting against 6.3 million in July. This shows a significantly low progress of the vaccination campaign and requires the government to come in with a more ‘creative’ approach to encourage people to get vaccinated.

School and universities

The Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan is in preparation to start the new academic year offline, reports the respective state department. The 2021-2022 academic year will welcome more than 3.4 million people at 7475 schools in Kazakhstan. The schoolyear will be operating in the traditional offline format. Only vaccinated teachers will be allowed to work, to date 93.1 percent of teachers and 88.4 percent of other admin staff at educational institutions have been vaccinated. However, pupils, whose parents were infected with the coronavirus or were in contact with infected people, will not be allowed in classrooms. Their classes will be held remotely, said the Minister of Education and Science Askhat Aimagambetov in an interview with a local press. From the interview, it is not clear for how long those pupils will be barred from coming to the schools though.

Kazakh Minister of Education and Science reiterated that the country’s compulsory school education will start moving to 12-year studies starting 2024. As part of the transformation, school textbooks and overall literature will also be updated.

The President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has signed a new legislation on inclusive education. The new law will oblige educational institutions to take measures on accessibility of their premises and tailor their curricula to the needs of students with special needs.

Starting July Kazakhstan introduced a new law on security and safety of schools and educational institutions. The new law says that establishments vulnerable to terrorist attacks, which include educational institutions, can only be guarded by qualified security agencies. Previously, educational institutions were free to employ an individual as a guard or security staff member.

According to the World Bank, Kazakhstan’s total spend on education came to 4.65% of GDP in 2020 (3.63% in 2019) and reached 3.14 trillion tenge. Most of the state budget was spent on equipping schools, construction of new education facilities and higher education institutions.

Student financial support

Kazakhstan’s full study grants for higher education with local HE providers in 2021/22 have increased to 56,000 from 51,000 in 2020/21. Applications will be accepted from 13 July to 20 July 2020. The biggest share comes for Engineering – 17,028, Pedagogy – 9,573, IT- 7,487 and natural sciences – 4,088. The remainder of places has been divided among Agriculture, Medicine, Arts and Humanitarian Sciences, Business and Administration, Social Studies and Journalism.

State grants and scholarships have been announced with over 56,000 people (of 75,000 applicants) being awarded full financial support from the government.

Over 300 Kazakh students will be able to study for free overseas this year as part of intergovernmental agreements that has been signed by Kazakhstan and other seven countries like Hungary, China, Poland, Ukraine, Slovakia, Azerbaijan and Vietnam. 250 students will be going to study for free in Hungary, 47 Iin China, 11 in Poland, 10 in Ukraine, three in Slovakia, eight in Azerbaijan and one in Vietnam.

The Bolashaq Presidential Scholarship has announced the results of first round of applications. According to the scholarship body 113 Kazakhstanis have been approved of full scholarship for 2021/22. The next round of applications will be concluded in August and November.

Economic situation

By the end of 2020 fiscal year, Kazakhstan’s economy shrank by 3.8%, says Eurasian Development Bank.

The World Bank predicts that the economy of Kazakhstan will grow by 2.5% in 2021, whilst the Eurasian Development Bank analysts predict an increase in aggregate GDP by 3.2% in 2021.

The Minister of the National Economy Ruslan Dalenov presented draft amendments to the law on the restoration of economic growth at the plenary session of the Senate. The amendments focus on the attraction of investment, development of entrepreneurship and the real sector, stabilisation of the financial market, digitalisation, project management, as well as improvement of monetary, social and trade policies.

Other news

• Kazakhstan’s national air carrier Air Astana is going to resume regular direct flights between Kazakhstan and the UK starting 18 September. The national air carrier says that it will fly between the two countries twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Those who travel will be required to do a PCR test independent of their vaccination status. Please refer to Travel Advice from FCDO and read more info on the website of the air operator.
• The situation in Afghanistan has brought a vivid discussion on the web among the residents of the Central Asian and CIS space. The government of Kazakhstan reassured that it would be doing its best to help Kazakhstanis and ethnic Kazakhs in the country and will try to evacuate those if there is a possibility. It is not yet clear whether the country would be open for asylum seekers from Afghanistan.   

Regional activities:

• Study UK ‘Wider Europe: Meet UK universities’  - September 2021 – February 2022
• Redesigned Digital Marketing Campaigns – more information upon request

Turkey

Update 24 July

As of 1 July, Turkey ended all lockdown restrictions. Public institutions, organisations returned to normal working order and all businesses resumed their services.

The number of Covid-19 cases climbed to 18K. The highest reported was 26K in August.

Turkey mass vaccination with Pfizer’s BioNTech is in progress, over 50 per cent of the total population has received first dose and almost 40 per cent received the second dose of Covid-19 vaccines. When the age of 18 was considered, 72.9 percent of the population has been administered the first dose of a Covid19 vaccine and 55.5 percent of the population has been administered the two doses as of 23 August. Citizens aged 15 and above, and children aged 12 and older with chronic illnesses, are now eligible for COVID-19 vaccines. Also, a third vaccine doze is offered to citizens who had two Sinovac dozes to protect against Covid-19 variants.

Until 31 August passengers arriving from Egypt, Iran, Singapore or the United Kingdom must have a negative PCR test taken 72 hrs before arrival.

From 8 June, direct flights can arrive in England from Turkey, but they must arrive at dedicated terminals at Heathrow and Birmingham airports. Different requirements may apply for arrivals into Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Schools are planned to start as of September 6. Unvaccinated teachers and school staff will be asked to get a PCR test at least twice a week once the academic year starts. COVID-19 tests will be mandatory to enter communal activities like concerts, theatres, and cinemas, as well as flights and intercity bus travels as of September. The tests will be free of charge at state hospitals.

Economic outlook in Turkey

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently announced its forecast that the Turkish economy will grow by 5.8 percent in 2021 and 3.3 percent in 2022.

In 2020, the Turkish economy grew by 1.8 percent. In the first quarter of 2021, the economy grew by 7 percent. However, despite the growth rates, the inflation rate increased to double digits, unemployment rate increased and purchasing power decreased drastically.

The government registered a fiscal deficit of 45.8 billion Turkish lira in July - a record figure on monthly basis. Expenditures amounted to 141.1 billion lira and income was 95.3 billion lira in July. In the same month of last year, the fiscal deficit was 29.7 billion Turkish lira. From January through July, the budget registered a total shortfall of 78.3 billion lira.

During the pandemic Turkey’s economy has managed to protect its production capacity. Over eight percent growth is expected in 2021 and year-end Inflation rate is projected to decline to 14.1 percent.

The number of unemployed persons aged 15 and over decreased by 823,000 to 3.4 million people in June when compared to the previous month. Unemployment of youth decreased by 0.2 points and dropped to 22.7 percent

According to Turkish Statistical Institute, the annual inflation rate increased higher than expected in July and reached 18.95 percent which is the highest rate in the last 26 months.

Research shows that while minimum limit (for a four-person family) to afford living costs increased by 6.3 times in the past 18 years, the inflation rate increased by 5.8 percent.

Turkey makes global-level plays in the field of software. Turkish game developers receive great demand from international investors. Companies that focus on games, e-commerce, and fintech attract the attention with their global success stories. Turkish unicorns such as Peak Game, Getir, and Dream Game, with market values surpassing billions.

Content released on social media platforms continues to captivate consumers, with 1 out of 5 individuals purchasing items by following the links on the profiles of influencers or celebrities, who earn money through product promotion. According to a survey, 97 percent of the participants use the internet, and 7 out of every 10 people shop online. 74 percent of female participants said they shopped online whereas this is 67 percent for males.

Schools and universities

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

Minister of National Education Ziya Selçuk resigned in August. The new minister is Prof Mahmut Özer.

Face-to-face education will start on 6 September. Teachers and staff who have not been administered two doses of a Covid19 vaccine will be tested at least for two times per week.

Universities

Turkey’s Council of Higher Education (YOK) announced that face-to-face and online education will be possible at universities based on the pandemic’s course and infrastructural capacities of university campuses in the upcoming academic year. YOK assured to make necessary efforts to resume face-to-face education at universities.

Unvaccinated university students and staff will periodically provide PCR tests as school students and staff.

According to the YKS (Entrance Exam to Higher Education Institutions) results, countless university candidates were stuck below the point threshold. Only exclusive to this year’s grading, YKS point threshold was lowered, reducing the base point to 140 (Foundation Proficiency Test) and 170 (Field Qualification Test) respectively, allowing nearly 300,000 more students to cast their preference for a four-year school.

International Student Mobility

U.S. Consulate visa section has resumed their visa services. They now accept student visa applications.

UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI)

We were expecting 1,200 study route applications this year. With the red listing, we estimate a 30% drop on this; i.e. a loss of 360 students.

Some students and parents are looking into alternative destinations in the EU (Austria, Germany, etc.), staying 10 days in those countries before entering the UK to avoid quarantine.

The rationale for cancellations:

• 10 day quarantine in a hotel will be a financial burden on parents and inconvenient for the students. For parents, this also creates a feeling of sending their children to an unknown and they can’t accompany them to support their settlement, hence not preferred.
• Students who have alternate destinations like US and Canada (both accept students without quarantine) will prefer those countries over the UK.
• Flight tickets are getting more expensive as September approaches.

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.

Read our previous update here