VZCZCXRO2822
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHLZ
RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAH #1071/01 2310945
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 180945Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1361
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 4167
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 1979
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 1844
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL PRIORITY 2415
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 001071 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, PPD, EEB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL SOCI TX
SUBJECT:  TURKMENISTAN:  STUDENTS BEGIN TO LOOK TO OVERSEAS 
UNIVERSITIES FOR EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES 
 
¶1.  (U) Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public Internet. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  There has been a new trend in college admissions 
this year in Turkmenistan:  due to extremely limited slots and 
extraordinarily high bribes to get in Turkmen universities, 
thousands of Turkmen high school graduates are choosing to study in 
universities abroad.  Placing students in foreign commercial 
universities, mainly in the former Soviet countries, has created a 
new industry for so-called "agents," which is both useful and 
profitable.  Turkmen parents question the educational quality in 
those commercial universities due to their easy admission 
procedures, but believe that those colleges are still better than 
their Turkmen counterparts.  With a growing number of people 
expecting Turkmenistan's private sector to expand, most believe that 
the risks of sending their children to overseas universities are 
worth doing so, since the alternatives for most high school 
graduates are either remaining unemployed at home or working menial 
jobs.  END SUMMARY. 
 
"FREE EDUCATION" IS TOO EXPENSIVE 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Education at Turkmenistan's universities and institutes is 
free of charge, except at the Turkmen-Turkish International 
University.  Turkmenistan's education system entitles each 
university to have a specific quota of students.  During Niyazov's 
era, the quota for the entire country shrank from about 15,000 to 
only 3,000 students per year.  Although under Berdimuhamedov the 
number of university slots has increased (to 6,000 this year), it 
still offers a place to just a small fraction of the number of 
graduating high school students.  These limited slots have given 
rise to a system where the size of bribes, rather than the student's 
intellectual ability largely decides admission, making 
Turkmenistan's "free education" very pricey.  Ensuring one's child 
admission into a university or institute could cost a parent from 
$15,000 to $80,000 this year: $15,000 for low-valued majors, such as 
Russian language and Russian literature, and $80,000 for the most 
prestigious major -- law.  Admission to the International 
Relations/World Economy faculty, the second most prestigious major, 
hovered around $50,000.  Medical majors at the Turkmen Medical 
Institute ranged between $25,000 and $30,000. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Because of the extremely limited number of slots for 
university students and the very high cost of bribes, many 
middle-income parents are choosing to send their children abroad to 
study, mainly to former Soviet union countries.  The most popular 
destinations are Russia, Ukraine, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Belarus. 
Turkmen prospective students get admitted to fee-based universities 
in those countries, many of which do not have any entrance 
examinations or specific admission criteria.  The only requirement 
is the timely payment of the tuition.  A system of small unofficial 
"agencies" or "agents" have been formed in order to place Turkmen 
students in the universities.  Their service fees range from $1,000 
to $3,000.  Basically, the function of these agencies is simply to 
find a university abroad, make a deal on how many students from 
Turkmenistan it can accept each year and work out the transportation 
logistics.  Acknowledging this new trend, Deputy Premier for 
Education and Health Hydyr Saparlyev stated during an August 15 
cabinet meeting that hundreds of students are now studying overseas. 
 
 
UKRAINE 
 
¶5.  (SBU) One embassy FSN's cousin is going to a four-year 
university in Ukraine.  His parents said that the annual tuition is 
$1,000, a total of $4,000 for four years.  "Even if we have to buy 
him a round-trip ticket for $1,000 once a year, the total expense 
for four years -- $10,000 -- is still much more affordable than if 
we tried to place our son in one of the Turkmen universities," his 
parents claim.  The agent who handles his case is working on placing 
a couple hundred Turkmen students in several universities in 
Ukraine.  In addition to handling the student's admission documents, 
she is also providing guidance on how to obtain a Ukraine student 
visa and on booking airline tickets.  An employee of the Ukrainian 
Embassy said that the volume of student visa applicants is so 
overwhelming that there are long lines. 
 
 
ASHGABAT 00001071  002 OF 002 
 
 
KYRGYZ REPUBLIC 
 
¶6.  (SBU) One embassy employee has tried to send her son to a 
four-year program at Kyrgyzstan's Osh State University.  The agent 
who places students in that university, charges a one-time fee of 
$1,000 for each student's enrollment.  Tuition costs $500.  Due to 
the large volume of students flying abroad during the months of 
August and September, this particular agent worked out an 
alternative transportation route.  Instead of using airfare, he 
hires several cars that convoy from Turkmenistan to Kyrgyz Republic 
through Uzbekistan. 
 
QUALITY OF EDUCATION 
 
¶7.  (SBU) These "commercial" universities in former Soviet countries 
that admit students without selection examinations do raise some 
suspicion among parents in Turkmenistan.  And, in fact, the 
government still does not recognize diplomas from many of these 
institutions.  Yet, parents unwilling or unable to pay the bribes 
needed to send their children to Turkmen universities have little 
choice, and believe that even an unrecognized diploma is better than 
having their children sit unemployed at home or doing menial work -- 
the only other choices given Turkmenistan's high unemployment rate. 
 
 
¶8.  (SBU) They also have more confidence in those universities than 
in any Turkmen ones.  For instance, an Embassy contact, who is 
working on sending her daughter to a Belarusian university, believes 
that quality of education in any foreign university is much higher 
than in any Turkmen university.  "All students do in Turkmen 
institutes is dance, fill in empty spaces in conferences and state 
events, and create a notion of audience, instead of expanding their 
education" she said, expressing her discontent.  These parents 
believe that, even if the state does not recognize their children's 
diplomas (leaving the children unqualified for employment in state 
firms or agencies), the children could still get a job in the 
private sector. 
 
¶9. (SBU) COMMENT: We see this development driven as much by 
Turkmenistan's new opening to the outside world as by economics. 
Although Berdimuhammedov publicly stated that every child should be 
allowed to study anything and anywhere he/she wants, it will be 
interesting to wait and see whether degrees from a foreign 
university will be recognized in Turkmenistan.  Although $80,000 is 
a gargantuan bribe for a law major, many families -- especially 
ministers' and agency heads' -- may believe that the bribe is 
worthwhile if it secures a career for their children in the upper 
echelons of the government.  END COMMENT. 
 
CURRAN