Uzbekistan

[highlander08 9]

Hello everyone I am eternally grateful for all your advice and time.. I have been communicating with a lady from tashkent. and am just checking on something she said in a letter.... I think I know ??? secondary or college education is free in Russia and Ukraine. ?

Is it also free and provided by the government in Uzbekistan ? and if not are there alternative ways to attend there like here such as grants,ect.. ??

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Hello everyone I am eternally grateful for all your advice and time.. I have been communicating with a lady from tashkent. and am just checking on something she said in a letter.... I think I know ??? secondary or college education is free in Russia and Ukraine. ?

Is it also free and provided by the government in Uzbekistan ? and if not are there alternative ways to attend there like here such as grants,ect.. ??

Kinda sorta. Up through secondary is free in Ukraine and Russia AND college IF you qualify and meet other requirements. If not you would probably qualify for some sort of post secondary education for free, such as a trade school. If you are really just a dum@ss they give you a government job and that's it. Usually law enforcement.

It is not true that anyone can go to college for free in Ukraine and Russia regardless of other qualifications. IF you qualify it is free IF you are a citizen. Our son qualified for a highly competitive university in Russia but had to pay full tuition for his first four years because he is Ukrainian. He got a masters in 5 years and did not have to pay for the last year whch is something they say they can do for foreign students who have earned a bachelors degree but not for undergrads. He could have gone to college for free in Ukraine but he had to take tests to qualify him for that.

I do not know about Uzbekistan. While it is FSU it is no longer associated with either Ukraine or Russia and they do their own thing. Uzbekistan is relatively poor compared to wildly-wealthy-beyond-imagination Ukraine, so I do not know if ths is something they continue to do. Tashkent, when part of the FSU was not know for education. Clever Uzbeks were sent to Russia or Ukraine for further education.

[eekee 182]

Hello everyone I am eternally grateful for all your advice and time.. I have been communicating with a lady from tashkent. and am just checking on something she said in a letter.... I think I know ??? secondary or college education is free in Russia and Ukraine. ?

Is it also free and provided by the government in Uzbekistan ? and if not are there alternative ways to attend there like here such as grants,ect.. ??

Re: Russia, Secondary is free, but now parents have to put down a lot of cash for books and such. University is free if you do very well on entrance exams and earn a free spot. They will only pay once though, so if you decide to go back to school, you have to pay.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Uzbekistan

Why are you asking about Uzbekistan here though if you're corresponding with someone who lives there?

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Re: Russia, Secondary is free, but now parents have to put down a lot of cash for books and such. University is free if you do very well on entrance exams and earn a free spot. They will only pay once though, so if you decide to go back to school, you have to pay.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Uzbekistan

Why are you asking about Uzbekistan here though if you're corresponding with someone who lives there?

Glad you answered eekee. It is a misconception that just anyone can go to college in Russia and Ukraine for free. It is a possibility, even a good possibility, if one is better than average, but not a guarantee.

Free spots are limited also by major and other things. Sergey's free place for the last year was highly competitive and they did not even tell him he had earned a paid "seat" until the day before his classes started! His girlfriend had sent him word a week before he went back that his name was "on the list" of people as finalists.

[eekee 182]

Glad you answered eekee. It is a misconception that just anyone can go to college in Russia and Ukraine for free. It is a possibility, even a good possibility, if one is better than average, but not a guarantee.

Free spots are limited also by major and other things. Sergey's free place for the last year was highly competitive and they did not even tell him he had earned a paid "seat" until the day before his classes started! His girlfriend had sent him word a week before he went back that his name was "on the list" of people as finalists.

I really like that system. I don't think that the government should pay for everyone to get higher education because to be frank, not everyone will really get something out of it, but it's in the country's self-interest to have the top students well-educated and not encumbered with student debt.

[AmyWrites 593]

My SO went for free, but he got the best math scores that year in the state. His sister, who is also successful but not that much, also goes, but to a different uni, for free. As I understand, if you do badly in your exams then you have to either go to a diploma mill or nothing.

I don't expect it to be the same in Uzbekistan, given the country's poor. I've had many professors here from Central Asia and all of them studied in Moscow.

The idea of grants and scholarships is, from what I've seen, very much exclusive to the English speaking world. Even when I lived in Australia, scholarships weren't common, they had another system for it.

I really like that system. I don't think that the government should pay for everyone to get higher education because to be frank, not everyone will really get something out of it, but it's in the country's self-interest to have the top students well-educated and not encumbered with student debt.

I wish the US had that system too. Great students go to uni free, okay students maybe get some aid, and if you completely failed, don't expect taxpayers to pay for you to party for another four years.

[eekee 182]

The Wikipedia article says they concentrate most of their education money on higher education. But it makes sense to me that Uzbek universities would be ####### regardless and that the best and the brightest would end up leaving the country to study.

[Neonred 3,575]

Edited...

Sorry, I will save my nasty comments for the P and R forum.

Edited May 17, 2012 by Neonred

[HHY2K 0]

It is free if you don't count in the exorbitant bribes you need to pay for some courses to be absolved.... true story, everyday practice... and don't hope for a toilet... I don't mean the paper, I mean the actual thing! Un-freaking-believable!

[eekee 182]

It is free if you don't count in the exorbitant bribes you need to pay for some courses to be absolved.... true story, everyday practice... and don't hope for a toilet... I don't mean the paper, I mean the actual thing! Un-freaking-believable!

Huh? I have never encountered a lack of a toilet in a Russian university.

[Hollyday 122]

Also to be said on the subject of paying for higher education: bribes are one thing, but in Russia in order to get the kids to a good uni parents hire tutors in the last 1-2 years of high school, that can also cost quite some. Sometimes there are courses organized by universities specifically for themselves for future first years. I once went to a contest for one of the universities (some run those to preselect future students before official exams) and while i was one of the best students in my school i'd never get there because apparently stuff people learned in those courses was so much more advanced than school course. A person who didn't attend those couldn't've done it.

And yes, if you don't score enough to enter a free sit you either enroll as a student who pays tuition fees or bribe uni authorities in advance to be pushed into a free seat. And of course there are those notoriously known exam bribes.

[Hollyday 122]

Anyway, for Uzbekistan: in their government site it says that citizens can get higher education on contractual basis (http://www.gov.uz/ru/citizen/education/49 - in Russian, but you can use google translate). I also found their education authorities site (http://www.edu.uz/). There's a document with quote for free and contractual seats by university (http://www.edu.uz/userfiles/ab92a214-a35c-49c8-bd92-df40df7b30b6_bakalavr.pdf - in Russian, but the last two columns respectively are 'Grant' which i think means free for the purposes of our discussion and 'Contract').

[highlander08 9]

Re: Russia, Secondary is free, but now parents have to put down a lot of cash for books and such. University is free if you do very well on entrance exams and earn a free spot. They will only pay once though, so if you decide to go back to school, you have to pay.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Uzbekistan

Why are you asking about Uzbekistan here though if you're corresponding with someone who lives there?

she is origionally ukrainian

[eekee 182]

she is origionally ukrainian

And I'm American but i've lived in Russia long enough to understand how the educational system works. Didn't you also say she has kids who are being raised in Uzbekistan? Ethnicity does not dictate one's ability to understand the way things work in the country one resides in.

[HHY2K 0]

Huh? I have never encountered a lack of a toilet in a Russian university.

Neighter did I… I experienced it in Western Ukraine… however, I am sure it doesn't take too long to find such a "restroom" out of mainstream cities in Russia either…