Turkmenistan

After completing school, students may continue their education at one of the dozens of specialized institutes or at Turkmenistan State University in Ashgabat. Admittance into higher education institutions often is extremely competitive, and personal connections and bribes may play a role in gaining entry and later advancement. Prospective students must pass a lengthy, pressure-packed entrance examination. Like all the other tests and evaluations in the educational system, this examination consists of both written and oral parts.

Completion of a course of study in higher institutions may take up to five years. Attempts are being made to decrease the number of years one must study so that young women may finish their higher education by their twentieth or twenty-first birthday, by which time they are expected to be married. Graduate study is an option for outstanding students at the university or in one of the Academy of Science's many research institutes.

The recently formed Council of Higher Education supervises Turkmenistan State University, the republic's eight institutes, and its two pedagogical institutes; these institutes are located in Ashgabat with the exception of a pedagogical institute in Charjew and an institute in Mary. These higher education institutions served 41,700 students in 1991, of which 8,000 were enrolled in the State University. Some institutes that train professionals for specific sectors of the national economy fall under the aegis of the relevant ministries. An education committee also functions under the president of the republic.

In March of 2001 Turkmen President Saparmyrat Niyazov harshly criticized the country's higher education system for poor professional standards and widespread bribery. Speaking at a meeting with teachers and students of the National Economy Institute in Ashgabat on 14 March, as broadcast by Turkmen TV the same day, Niyazov said:

You, our scholars, yourselves do not realize the potential of our national economy. Here I mean our national currency, its circulation in Turkmenistan and its position against other currencies. You have not carried out any serious research work or developed any theories in this field. All your present books are copied from Soviet-era articles. I myself sometimes read your articles, but they do not suit us. You are still using Soviet-era textbooks and lecture notes because you yourselves have been trained in this way.

Niyazov demanded that new Turkmen language textbooks on history and economy be published within a year, stating:

We will buy for you computers and textbooks, but we have to start publishing Turkmen national textbooks no later than at the end of this year and there should be textbooks on history and on economics. Therefore you have to set up a special group to translate them from Russian and from other European languages. There are a lot of books on economics for the young people and all of them should be translated into Turkmen. But please do not expect any privileges or reward for this work and no one should expect to be recognized the sole author of a textbook. All textbooks should be drafted by a group of authors.

Niyazov also said proper education could be a way to fight corruption:

I have come here and demand that you train good students. So far, anyone I appoint to any post, immediately starts to seek personal benefits. Such habits as stealing are usually transferred to the next generation. It always happens so that if the father is a thief, his son surely becomes the same. This cannot be seen immediately but in the long run, bad habits are always inherited.

He also warned against bribery at higher education institutions when he told his students, "Bribery is said to be practiced here; if one wants to be enrolled at an institute he must pay, to pass exams one must pay too. Do not work in such a way, you must feel your responsibility and remember that you are living at the government's expense."