The U.S. Embassy in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, has awarded Kent State University a grant to study the higher education system of the Central Asian nation and develop proposals for improvements.
The $100,000 grant follows the October signing of an agreement between Kent State and the Turkmenistan Ministry of Education to explore the possibility of creating an educational partnership with several national institutes of higher learning there.
Read Kent State Today's previous coverage of the university's partnership with Turkmenistan.
The effort is part of Kent State’s ongoing commitment to using education to foster global understanding and peace in a divided world. The grant is renewable, and Kent State hopes to be able to continue its work beyond the first year if the funding is renewed.
The October signing followed more than a year of talks between Kent State and the Turkmen education ministry about developing an educational partnership with the former Soviet-bloc nation.
Marcello Fantoni, Ph.D., Kent State’s vice president for the Office of Global Education, said the first thing he does when exploring a potential new educational partnership in a country is to meet with the American ambassador there to discuss plans.
“You don’t want to be in a country as a public university working against the role of American diplomacy,” Fantoni said.
In this case, officials from the American Embassy welcomed Kent State enthusiastically.
“They think that education is the best way for America to achieve its soft diplomacy goals,” Fantoni said.
While Kent State was still engaged in talks with the Turkmen Ministry of Education, the Embassy’s Public Diplomacy Section advertised the grant, for which Kent State applied and was selected out of a field of other universities and non-profit organizations.
“This grant means that the American Embassy in Turkmenistan has chosen Kent State among all possible American university partners to work in collaboration with the embassy to study the higher education system and come up with constructive proposals on how to internationalize it and open it up to the rest of the world,” Fantoni said. “So, the grant is us serving the goals of the State Department to develop education in those countries.”
At the October signing, the Turkmen Ambassador to the United States Meret Orazov was on the Kent Campus and spoke of how he hoped that one day Kent State could establish a permanent presence in Ashgabat.
Six Turkmen students already study at Kent State.
Fantoni said Kent State believes education is the best way to promote global understanding and democracy. “By getting engaged in developing higher education in these countries, I think we will bring a good contribution to the future of these countries and the world,” he said.
Kent State has a longstanding history of opening its doors to students and educational partners worldwide.
Turkmenistan, located just north of Iran and Afghanistan, is part of a group of former Soviet-bloc nations often referred to as “the Stans,” which include Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and which comprise a large portion of Central Asia.
Turkmenistan has a desire to improve its educational institutes to better position them for international accreditation and global recognition.
Kent State is committed to using its resources and expertise to assist Turkmenistan in reforming and globalizing its higher education sector, to increase access to quality education and enable the country to become an active participant in the global education community, Fantoni said.
Using the grant money, Kent State hopes to research the current educational system, offer advice on what changes can be addressed and then aid in the reform efforts, Fantoni said. These efforts will lay the groundwork for future educational collaborations such as offering Kent State programs in the Turkmen capital of Ashgabat.