OSCE Academy’s Director presents to Permanent Council educational, research programmes for Central Asia and Afghanistan

The OSCE Academy in Bishkek has since 2002 worked to promote the OSCE agenda of regional co-operation in Central Asia, said the Academy’s Director, Maxim Ryabkov, in his address to the OSCE Permanent Council on 19 April 2012.

Ryabkov specifically spoke about the 2010-2012 post-graduate education programmes the OSCE Academy offers to students from Central Asia and Afghanistan, capitalizing on the OSCE support and the Academy’s growing international partnerships.

Since 2004 it has run a Masters Programme in Politics and Security, which currently has 174 graduates. In 2012, a Masters Programme in Economic Governance and Development, was launched with 24 students from Central Asia and Afghanistan currently enrolled. 

Ryabkov stressed that over the past two years the Academy has strengthened its research profile and consolidated its professional training curriculum to more effectively facilitate the professional development of journalists, civil servants and experts.

Ryabkov also underlined the increased participation of Afghanistan’s representatives in the Academy courses. “The involvement of students from Afghanistan benefits the prospects of co-operation between Central Asian participating States of the OSCE and Afghanistan,” he said.

Since its establishment and until 2012, the OSCE Academy in Bishkek has received financial and in-kind contributions from Germany, the US, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, the Russian Federation, Slovenia, Switzerland and Turkey.