HiEdTec - a big step towards digitalization of CA universities

The conference "EU-Turkmenistan: Cooperation in the Field of Education" was organised by the EU Delegation to Turkmenistan on November 2, 2022 in Ashgabat with active involvement of the NEO Turkmenistan, and support of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of International Affairs of Turkmenistan.

The main aim of the event was the demonstration of successful cooperation between the EU and Turkmen universities in the framework of EU and CA joint projects. The experience of HiEdTec project (Modernization of higher education in Central Asia through new technologies) was presented as a good example by EU coordinators of HiEdTec Hristo Beloev (Rector, professor of the University of Ruse, Bulgaria) and Angel Smrikarov (professor, project Coordinator).

Addressing the conference, prof. H. Beloev said: “HiEdTec started in 2019 and its active partners are four EU universities and fifteen Central Asia universities. Ministries of Education of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are actively involved in the project implementation. The project has facilitated our team to take a big step towards digitalization of our universities, which is a global trend. The project also helped us to save the educational process during the coronavirus pandemic.”

Prof. H. Beloev talked about the project aim and objectives to adapt the educational system in the partner countries to the digital generation through the introduction and effective application of ICT–based innovative educational technologies and didactic models in the educational process.

Partner universities successfully created the sustainable academic network throughout Central Asia to exchange their knowledge and experience in the field of innovative educational technologies which currently continue to be expanding. The project team could have designed the Concept of adapting the educational system to the digital generation which was approved by the academic council at each Partner university, and the Guide on innovative educational technologies and published in two languages – English and Russian.

Giving a brief overview of the project outcomes, professor H. Beloev said: “The project team has generated 15 centers of innovative educational technologies - one at each university, and 45 halls of active learning - three at each university. Each university has mastered one system for synchronous distance learning.

75 trainers in the field of innovative educational technologies have been trained - 5 at each university. Over a thousand teachers have been trained in the field of innovative educational technologies.

In order to assist in the training of trainers and teachers, Ruse University has created a rich virtual library with presentations and video lectures in the field of innovative educational technologies. The number of visits to this library is approaching 700,000 (seven hundred thousand).

Each partner university has created five web-based courses. Turkmen is one of them. All web-based courses created by the project in each country have been collected in one virtual library: Turkmen is one of them.

The website of our project contains links to all virtual libraries and to all courses. Together, we are spreading the results of our work throughout the Central Asia. All of the above is a very good start to the digital transformation of education“.

Concluding his statement, prof. H. Beloev highlighted the importance of created effective cooperation.

The achieved results of HiEdTec Turkmen partners were reported by Habib Halmamedov, IUHD Local Coordinator: “Turkmen partners are represented in the project by three HE institutions: the International University for the Humanities and Development, Oguz Khan Engineering and Technology University of Turkmenistan, and the Turkmen State Institute of Energy. The project completely meets strategies of Turkmenistan development and the national priorities, considering that the country is currently implementing a digital educational system.

Best practices, gained as a result of participation in HiEdTec project, have supported the development of Turkmen partner universities into innovative ones and assisted to improve the quality of trained specialists. The project outcomes contributed to the digital transformation of partners’ institutions with e-learning methods, digital textbooks, manuals, video and audio materials, interactive and multimedia programs to improve the universities’ virtual learning environment and also provided considerable support to lifelong and continuing education developments in Turkmenistan.”