June 26-30, in Otto-Von-Guericke-Universitaet (OVGU, Magdeburg, Germany) held training seminars within the project 101082829-DEFA-ERASMUS-EDU-2022-CBHE “Development of Financial Autonomy of Universities of Kyrgyzstan” (DEFA), funded by the Erasmus+ program of the European Union.
July 3-8 seminars continue at the University of Florence UNIFI (Florence, Italy), the program also includes the study of financial and operational management of the university.
Seminar participants are 26 staff from 10 universities in Kyrgyzstan and two European universities -OVGU and Universita Degli Studi di Firenze – UNIFI (Florence, Italy). Also a partner of the project is an educational non-governmental organization CESIE (Palermo, Italy).
The aim of the workshops is to familiarize and train participants in the peculiarities of financial and managerial autonomy of universities in Magdeburg and Florence, the management of processes and in its structural units.
Organized meetings with experts OVGU professors: Dr. Bernd Kliman, Dr. Frank Siegel, Dr. Michael Holscher, about research and practical application of financial management in European universities.
On July 4 the meeting with the City Hall of Florence about the exchange of experience in the implementation of innovations and infrastructure development of the city was held. The meeting was attended by the Ambassador of the Kyrgyz Republic in Italy Taalai Bazarbaev, who in his welcoming speech expressed his gratitude to the City Hall of Florence, the rectorate and professors of UNIFI for active participation in a joint project and stressed the importance and relevance of the project for the system of higher education in the Kyrgyz Republic.
During study visits the heads of financial, planning and HR departments shared their experiences on financial autonomy in European universities, the management structure for its implementation.
During the talks between the Rector of KSTU M.Chynybaev and Rector of the University of Florence Alessandra Petrucci have agreed to prepare new projects to disseminate experiences in the implementation of the third mission of universities and the dissemination of green technologies.
They also discussed the possibility of developing and opening joint educational programs.
The DEFA project was developed in 2022 by the team of experts on the reform of higher education of the Kyrgyz Republic under the guidance of the Rector of KSTU M.Chynybaev and received financial support from the European Commission.
The coordinator of the project is KSTU named after I. Razzakov.
This project contributes to the implementation of the Presidential Decree “On measures to improve the capacity and competitiveness of educational institutions of higher professional education of the Kyrgyz Republic”.
The main objectives of the DEFA project are:
– To develop a flexible and effective model of financial autonomy for universities, which will allow educational institutions to mobilize and manage resources, effectively using them to meet changing needs;
– Promoting reform of higher education in the Kyrgyz Republic and increasing its recognition and effectiveness for the labor market and society, as well as the competitiveness of the research activities of universities
– piloting and expanding the new system of university self-governance and increasing financial autonomy;
– improving the strategic management of processes in the university, ensuring financial sustainability, motivation and capacity building of human resources.
As a result of the seminars a model of financial autonomy of universities in Kyrgyzstan will be developed, taking into account the experience of leading European universities, a roadmap for its implementation, as well as methodological guidelines for the application of the developed model.
There are also plans to pilot the model of financial autonomy in the target universities of Kyrgyzstan.
