By Chemen Durdiyeva (10/1/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)

This summer’s new regulations on studying at foreign universities abroad have caused widespread confusion and resentment among the students in Turkmenistan and also raised questions about President Berdimuhammedov’s so called “reformist” image.

This summer’s new regulations on studying at foreign universities abroad have caused widespread confusion and resentment among the students in Turkmenistan and also raised questions about President Berdimuhammedov’s so called “reformist” image.

The new rule that came into effect in late July requires students to obtain official permission from the National Education Institute of Turkmenistan to be able to study abroad. This rule caught many by surprise as it was initially not officially announced or published in state media sources. Many students found out about the existence of such regulations only when they either got stuck at the airport customs control or when they were simply taken off their international flights in Ashgabat. While some were lucky to return their universities abroad before July, more than a thousand students lined up in panic to get the official “stamp” allowing them to leave the country.

According to the chief of the ad hoc “stamping committee”, which is set up to register all students going abroad, the new regulation requires the students to provide the following information: 1. An invitation (or contract) from the university; 2. A copy of the student’s passport, and visa of the inviting country; 3. A university license confirming its accreditation, also showing if it is a private or state university; If it is a private university and located in any of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, the students were automatically denied registration and permit to leave. The head of the committee said that the third requirement mainly applies to students studying in CIS countries, while those studying in Europe or the U.S. are granted a permit to depart.

Young people of conscription age need to obtain an additional permission or a temporary leave from military registration and enlistment offices of the Ministry of Defense allowing them to defer their two year obligatory military service. In this connection, rumors have spread that students also need to get a permission to leave from Turkmenistan’s State Migration Service. Hundreds of students or prospective students rushed in panic to Ashgabat from different parts of the country. Within a few days after the news spread, the line of students waiting in front of the doors of the National Education Institute to get a stamp reached one thousand. Some students said they have been waiting in line since five in the morning but were not able to make it by the end of the day. In an attempt to go around the third requirement, some students studying at private universities in the CIS managed to obtain the required documents from any state universities abroad to be able to return and continue their studies at their respective universities. Others tried to reach their universities through a third country but the authorities strengthened the border screening procedures at all border crossings of Turkmenistan after discovering the different methods students were using to escape the new rule.

Students of the American University in Central Asia (AUCA) in Bishkek under the U.S. government sponsored program TASP have suffered the most as a result of this new rule. Since AUCA is a private liberal arts university, Turkmen authorities did not recognize it as an institution of higher education under the new rule. Turkmen AUCA students, constituting the second largest ethnic group after the Kyrgyz at AUCA, who were spending their summer vacations in Turkmenistan have been completely denied permission to depart from the country despite the U.S. Embassy’s direct involvement in the issue. Confusion rose among many over why the authorities “blacklisted” AUCA, while at the same time granting permission to transfer AUCA students to the American University in Bulgaria.       

No official statement was released for why the government suddenly decided to curb studying in private schools abroad. However, many analysts of foreign media outlets claim that the government is trying to control the type of education Turkmen students are receiving abroad. The controversial new regulations caught international attention, which was nevertheless not sufficient to lift the ban on studying in private schools. Human Rights Watch issued a letter calling on the government of Turkmenistan to “immediately revoke” the travel ban for students studying in private schools abroad. The Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights (TIHR), a Vienna based émigré opposition group accused the Turkmen government of returning to late President Saparmurad Niyazov’s policies, which considered students studying abroad as a potential threat to his regime. At a meeting with President Berdimuhammedov at the UN last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton even praised Berdimuhammedov for his previous educational reforms and the controversial regulations were not even raised during the bilateral talks.