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 piece of 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 education system, economy and other key areas of countries' development. 

Here are the changes at a glance: 

Kazakhstan – "soft" lockdown continues, Covid-19 cases falling, online education kicks off, Covid-19 vaccine trials, education standards to improve, economic predictions

Russia - Covid-19 cases top up to 1 million, Russian vaccine trails bagin, international flights with UK and other resuming, new academic year commenced face-to-face

Turkey - public places open, currency fluctuations, online education started with an aim to transition to face-to-face mode, student interest shifting

Uzbekistan - phased mitigation of quarantine, education centres resume working, enriching educational & cultural programmes

Kazakhstan

Update 7 September 2020

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.

The state of emergency in Kazakhstan was lifted on 11 May 2020 with the quarantine regime persisting in nearly all regions. The decision to soften or completely take down the current restrictive measures will be laid upon city/regional administrations.

Kazakhstan had to put the nation under another lockdown due to the soaring numbers of Covid-19 cases in June 2020. The country was under strict restrictive measures starting 5 July up until 17 August, when the government of Kazakhstan started softening the quarantine measures throughout the country.

For the time being, the country is seeing the number of Covid-19 cases to drop gradually, which is allowing the country management to reopen businesses and public places. The Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said in a statement that it was now important to carefully observe and assess the Covid-19 situation in the country to prevent the numbers from raising again.

Kazakhstan Research Institute of Biological Safety Problems has developed an inactivated Covid-19 vaccine, QazCovid-in, on the basis of a virus strain obtained from Covid-19 patients. The Kazakh vaccine was already added to the list of those approved vaccines for clinical trials by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The Kazakh Minister of Education and Science Askhat Aitmagambetov said that the pre-clinical trials of the vaccine had already yielded good results. The trials of the domestic vaccine is planned to start in mid-September.

Education sector

The new academic year in Kazakhstan commenced mostly online – institutions at all levels of education are teaching to their students distantly with the help of various education/video-call platforms. However, classes in small schools in remote rural areas will be conducted in the usual format with all sanitary requirements to be observed. In other words, around 80 per cent of students in the country are taught online, 15-16 per cent of students of first, second, third and fourth grades are attending classes formed at the request of parents, the rest 5 per cent (around 202,000) of students are students of small-sized schools, mostly in remote rural areas are continuing their education in the usual traditional way.

The start of new academic year has been mainly welcomed by the general public as the best way of education delivery in times of pandemic, however, there have been a few issues around the platforms, connectivity and content management.

Back in August, Minister of Education and Science Askhat Aimagambetov said in the new academic year in Kazakhstan the content and methods of preschool education will be completely reviewed, the approach to learning languages at an early age will be changed, the curriculum content will be updated in accordance with the age and psychological characteristics of children.

Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has recently made public his annual address to the nation. In the address, the President highlighted the importance of science in the country and that its importance must be a priority, thus the country would be funding another 1,000 grants to support young scientists within the Zhas Galym ‘Young Scientist’ programme in 2020.

The World Bank also conducted a research on the education losses that the Covid-19 crisis can impose to the Kazakh economy. According to the World Bank, the impact of Covid-19 on education and learning losses will have decades-long effects on the Kazakh economy – estimated 2.9 per cent - on the Kazakh economy resulting in an overall economy loss of up to $.1.9 billion annually.

Economic situation

The Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev instructed the government to subsidise businesses affected by the pandemic as part of a broader and continued effort to support country’s economy.

The subsidies will be provided to small and medium-sized enterprises with interest rates of up to six per cent per annum for 12 months starting March 16, when Kazakhstan declared the state of emergency and closed nonessential businesses. The government will allocate an additional 200 billion tenge ($476 million) to the programme, bringing the total amount of available funds to 800 billion tenge ($1.9 billion).

In addition, based on the conservative forecast 110 billion tenge will be allocated within the free healthcare services and 140 billion tenge within the compulsory social health insurance until the end of this year. In total the government of Kazakhstan will be allocating 250 billion tenge for treating Covid-19 patients within this initiative.

On the general picture, the Kazakh Ministry of the National Economy has projected a 2.8 per cent growth in real gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021, and 4.6 per cent in 2025. This was announced by the National Economy Minister Ruslan Dalenov during an August 25 government meeting. The ministry relied on a baseline scenario to calculate Kazakhstan’s economic development for 2021-2025.

The Kazakh National Bank (NBK) revised the inflation forecast for 2020 from 9-11 per cent to 8-8.5 per cent, said NBK Chairperson Yerbolat Dossayev. This is due to “weak domestic demand, which will have a disinflationary effect.”

The NBK also expects the exchange rate pass-through to impact inflation taking into account the expected balance of payments deficit, as well as the increased fiscal impulse. The financial regulator expects the target corridor to maintain 4-6 per cent in 2021-2022, 4-5 per cent in 2023-2024, and 3-4 per cent in 2025.

Contact

For more information and insights about the Covid-19 situation in Kazakhstan or any other services we can offer you, please contact Zhanaidar Duzgenbay, International Education Services Coordinator, Kazakhstan at Zhanaidar.Duzgenbay@britishcouncil.org.

Russia

Update7 September 2020

Overview

Numbers of cases have been increasing for the last several days and have reached 1 million. First vaccinations with Russian vaccine have started. International flights are available with UK and are resuming with other countries. Academic year has started on 1 September face-to-face.

General updates

• The lockdown is now over in Russia (with the final phase in some regions). Overall restrictions have been lifted and all businesses have been resumed over the country with safety measures.
• Internal travel is operating, regular international flights are resumed with several countries by now: UK, Turkey, Tanzania, Montenegro, Egypt, UAE, Maldives, Greece (limited) and also with Switzerland (for residence permit holders only).
• Citizens continue to be required to wear face masks, which will be necessary for several months. Mass events are gradually resuming in some regions, including  Moscow and St. Petersburg, with restrictions or outdoors only
• The total number of cases has reached 1 million with around 4700 cases daily, although the number of cases has increased gradually and slightly during the last several days.
• IELTS centers are open. UK visa centres are open all over Russia (other visa centres are working on passports return only, or for selected categories of citizens). International flights with the UK are available for all the purposes.
• Foreigners who need to come to Russia require a Covid-19 medical test result taken no more than three days before the flight. Self-isolation for 14 days for foreigners is not required.
• Russian vaccine has been introduced to Russian citizens, first vaccinations have started.

Covid-19 effect on schools and universities

Schools:

A new academic year has started on 1 September in schools in a traditional format of face-to-face, however digital platforms will be developed further. Any mass events are prohibited at schools until 2021. Masks are not required at schools, although the timing of lessons and breaks was changed. It’s prohibited to communicate with students from other classes during breaks. Parents are not allowed to enter schools. Temperature will be measured once entering an educational institution.

HEi:

Universities have started an academic year face-to-face with safety measures – face masks are required for both both academics and students.  Temperature will be measured once entering an educational institution.

In some regions new academic year will start with a mixture of face-to-face and blended learning, in some – from 14 September. Some online courses will be developed and introduced into the learning programme this academic year.

International students studying in Russia, if studying face-to-face, will have to self-isolate for two weeks upon their entering the country and pass the Covid-19 test. If there is no opportunity for international students to start studying face-to-face, studying online will be available. From 2020/2021 academic year it has become easier for international students studying in Russia to employ during their studies.

Education agents have reported no more than 15 per cent cancellations of academic programmes abroad among Russian students for the 2020-21 academic year, and UK remains the first choice for students. An increased demand for education abroad is also predicted for 2021-22.  

Blended learning development

Online education is planned to be delivered all over Russia by 2024. Distance education in Russia implemented due to Covid-19 has been called one of the most effective in the world (along with Singapore). Russia has managed to create a unique multi-media platform that unites traditional school-books, digital education and educational TV project and thus has no analogues in the world.

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 Massive Open Online Course platforms (MOOCs) 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 the public free of charge.

New educational programme & 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 (Times Higher Education, QS World University Rankings etc.).

By 2024 it is planned to implement the national project "Education". According to this, 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

Russia’s GDP expanded by 1.3 per cent in 2019 and 1.8 per cent in Q1 of 2020, showing more or less stable numbers during the last three years. The lockdown period halted Russia’s economy, driving the government to introduce economic support, such as lowering mortgage rates and providing additional payments for non-working citizens and families with children. The measures taken by the government is estimated to amount to over 2 trillion Russian rubles (£22.8 billion). Covid-19 has however weakened the Russian economy, Central Bank predicts a drop of 4.2 – 4.5 per cent in GDP, mainly due to the significant reduction of exports. Stabilisation of the economy is predicted due to large national projects and trade recovery by 2021.

Fitch agency confirms Russia's BBB rating with stable prediction (8 August 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

Update7 September 2020

Majority of public places are open with temperature checks and physical distancing rules in place. Wearing a face mask is a must in public areas.  

The number of Covid-19 cases are increasing gradually. There is a concern about the second wave and hence delay for students to go back to face-to-face learning.  

Most international flights have started. Most European Union destinations are still closed to Turkish citizens. However, EU countries accept Turkish students as they have residential visas. 

Economic outlook in Turkey

Turkish Lira continues to lose value against foreign currencies. The GBP-Turkish lira exchange rate increased from 9.03 TRY to 9.80 TRY over the last month. Recent currency fluctuation may discourage prospective students from lower middle-class segment; however, the core target group (upper middle-class and above) are historically not affected by foreign exchange changes.  

Turkey announced that some 320 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves were found in Blacksea. Works for new discoveries are continuing. 

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/energy/natural-gas/turkey-to-supply-its-own-gas-by-2023-energy-minister/30291  

Turkey’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the April-June period shrank 9.9 per cent from a year earlier after it had grown 4.5 per cent in the previous three months. 

https://www.dailysabah.com/business/economy/turkey-outpaces-peers-as-economy-shrinks-99-in-q2-due-to-covid-19  

School and university closures 

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

Schools 

Public schools started online education on 31 August. Face-to-face teaching is planned to start on 21 September.  Some private schools started online education as of 17 August.  

Ministry of National Education (MoNE) has started the Digital Transformation Programme for Teachers. One million teachers will be trained in partnership with Google. 

MoNE opened 1,420 support points for students who are unable to access online teaching through EBA TV.

Universities 

Universities have been asked by the Council of Higher Education to plan reopening after 1 October. 

International Student Mobility 

The Study UK pre-departure briefing was held for students travelling to the UK for the new academic year on 26 August. Over 100 students attended the online event.  

Students’ interest is shifting towards destination countries perceived to have navigated the crisis well like Australia, New Zealand and Canada as captured in the recent Ernest and Young report. 

According to the UUKi’s research, as a study destination Turkey’s international student numbers quadrupled to 108,000 in 2017. 

Turkey is considered as one of the next hot spots for international higher education in the region. 

Turkey’s market share increased by 9% market share in Iran and 1% in Kazakhstan. 

UKVI 

The Visa Application Centers (VACs) are open operating every day in Gaziantep, three days in Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara, two days in Bursa, two days every second week in Adana and Antalya.

Contact 

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

For more information, please contact Semra Yalcin Dogan at Semra.Yalcin@britishcouncil.org.tr address.

Uzbekistan

Update7 September 2020

Summary

• On 15 August, a phased mitigation of quarantine began in Uzbekistan. The decision of the special commission established the requirements for the resumption of various types of activities, as well as restrictions that will continue to apply. https://www.gazeta.uz/ru/2020/08/12/quarantine-rules/
• From 15 August, the movement of cars is allowed for a full day (without time limits). Domestic air and rail transport has resumed.
• The activities of non-state preschool educational institutions and schools, as well as training centres are resumed.
• At the same time, ministries and departments were instructed to increase the number of cultural, educational and entertainment programmes, broadcasts and materials in the media, as well as to make sound proposals for the operation of theatres, cinemas, concerts and other events in compliance with social distance and sanitary and epidemiological requirements.

Education market

2019/2020 Academic year

School students’ final exams have been moved to online testing and completed by 1 June 2020.

University and Technical & Vocational Educational Training (TVET) final exams held remotely until 1 July:

• Bachelor graduates will take state exams in the form of online tests.
• State certification for graduate masters is organised in the form of online presentations.

2020/2021 Academic Year

• In Uzbekistan this year, entrance exams to state universities will start on 2 September and will last 14 days. This was announced by the Deputy Director of the State Testing Centre last week.
• Taking into account the fact that closed premises do not meet epidemiological requirements and do not have sufficient capacity to conduct exams at the optimal time, while maintaining social distance, an order was given to organise test trials in the central stadiums of Tashkent and regions. Provided that exams are held twice a day (during cool hours of the day), the entire testing process can be completed in approximately 12-14 days
• This year 162,364 bachelor's and 10,425 master's degrees have been allocated for study at the country's universities. 91 higher educational institutions accepted documents for admission to bachelor's degree from 1 million 484 thousand applicants, which is 39 per cent more than last year. 10.6 people applied for one student place. 78 thousand 720 people applied for admission to the masters in 72 educational institutions, which is three times more than last year. https://kun.uz/ru/news/2020/08/06/v-uzbekistane-vstupitelnyye-ekzameny-v-vuzy-proydut-v-dve-smeny-na-otkrytyx-stadionax
• New Decree of President dated 13 June 2020 introducing unified school graduation and university entrance exams from 2021/2022
• Earlier this year, the State Testing Centre (STC) published for discussion a draft presidential decree that provides for the introduction of a system of admission to universities based on the results of school graduation tests, without conducting additional exams.
• According to the project, it is proposed to introduce a unified exam from the academic year 2021/2022. Testing is planned in April-May 2021.

General situation in country and policy level developments

Economic picture:

• The Central Bank of Uzbekistan expects GDP growth to decline to 1.5 to 2.5 per cent in 2020 (against 5.2 to 5.5 per cent projected earlier). According to the regulator’s forecasts, the most significant slowdown in growth is forecast in tourism, hotel industry and international transport. The Central Bank also forecasts a reduction in the amount of remittances to Uzbekistan by 30 to 35 per cent in 2020, which may hold back private consumption growth. Exports will likely weaken amid supply side disruptions, although higher gold and uranium prices should soften the downturn.
• In the June issue of the WB World Economic Outlook report, data on world GDP growth for 2020-2021 were announced. The impact of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) is projected to lead to a 1.7 per cent decline in the Central Asian economy.
• It is notable that among the 24 states in the region of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Uzbekistan according to WB will become the only country where economic growth of 1.5 per cent is currently expected in 2020. WB expects 6.6 per cent  increase in Uzbekistan’s economy in 2021. http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/344691588788182868/Global-Economic-Prospects-June-2020-Regional-Overview-ECA.pdf
• Unemployment in Uzbekistan now stands at nearly 2 million. In the first quarter of the year, the unemployment level had stood at 1.35 million. The government anticipates unemployment to triple. According to government figures 45,000 businesses in retail and wholesale, 13,000 cafes and restaurants, 19,000 service companies, and 7,000 transport companies have been closed as a result of Covid-19
• A significant proportion of the population will be immediately impacted by a decline in remittances as a result of the economic shocks in Russia (due to oil price and Covid-19) and Kazakhstan. Already, 140,000 migrant workers have returned to Uzbekistan and the Central Bank has noted that remittances were down 50 per cent in April year on year. Remittances were worth approximately US$ 4.25 billion to the Uzbek economy in 2019 and constitute a critical source of income for families in provincial areas. 

Reforms: scale, focus, impact

• Uzbekistan - a young and fast-growing population. Around 38 per cent (13m people) of a 34 million population are under 19 years of age. The population has doubled since 1980 (https://www.stat.uz/ru/2-uncategorised/5222-o-zbekiston-aholisi-ru).
• National development strategy 2017-2021: prioritises economic development and strong focus on capacity development and education
• New 2030 HE and Public Education development concepts published in 2019: relevance of education to meet country’s ambition, internationalisation and standards - Programme for International Student Assessment ( PISA)
• TNE and internationalisation of HE is prioritised to widen access and ensure quality (dedicated Decrees being issued to offer preferential terms, 35 new HEIs set up with 18 being international university affiliates)
• 2020 - the Year of Science, Education and Digital - widespread adoption of digital technologies at all stages of the education system, raising the level of digital knowledge necessary for the modern economy, improving the education infrastructure, and opening, by 2022, digital knowledge training centres in all regions of the republic as part of the Five Initiatives project

Investments: Government of Uzbekistan (GoU), international agencies, private 

• El Yurt Umidi Foundation under the Agency for the Development of Public Service under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan - professional development of academic staff, 90 scholarships to UK last year
• Public Education/Presidential schools development funding: Presidential schools being set up /Cambridge International – paid by GoU
• Public Education ministry/private investors – setting up International University for Education
• Private businesses have set up the first private entrepreneurship - TEAM University with London South Bank (LSB), to create the Creative Spark project in Uzbekistan
• WB, UNESCO, Swiss, KFW/GIZ considering Covid-19 response funds which may include education, for example, (the World Bank approved $200 million in additional development policy financing to support Uzbekistan’s ongoing health, social, and economic policy responses to the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic - http://projects.worldbank.org/P173948?lang=en).

Opportunities

• Main area to highlight is GoU efforts to support education and welcome international HE’s
• Uzbekistan is a growing market for UK English language programmes, over the last two years the number of language centers and courses and foundation programmes with UK partners increased, short-term summer courses, foundation courses, and ELT online courses are all popular in the market.
• National Higher Education Reform Decree dated July 2017 requires all universities to teach at least one programme in English by 2020 thus creating demand for content and TNE partnership.
• TNE, products and services (WIUT, International University of Education, TEAM University; Teaching materials - Macmillan, Oxford University Press, Pearson, System to System Knowledge Sharing and consultancies -e.g. Quality Assurance)
• In 2020, over a one million school leavers are expected to apply for 143,000 places available in HE sector (https://www.gov.uz/ru/news/view?id=27669). Thus only 14 per cent of young people can get domestic HE. The GoU is gradullay increasing the annual intake to 25 per cent, however there is still a big demand for HE. Thus 164,306 (15.4 per cent) school leavers expressed their interest in TNE in 2019.

Contact

For more information and insights about the COVID-19 situation in Uzbekistan, please contact Shukhrat Amanov, Country Projects Manager, British Council Uzbekistan at Shukhrat.amanov@britishcouncil.org  

Previous Covid-19 update is available here

You may also be interested in taking part in our forhcoming Study UK ‘Wider Europe: Gateway to the UK’ event in November 2020.