On 2 May, six weeks after President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov signed a regulation on the new procedure for acknowledging diplomas issued by overseas universities, Turkmen media outlets tried to clarify the newly-imposed changes.
An official from Turkmenistan’s Ministry of Education Khemra Khaidyrov gave an interview to explain the introduction of the list of foreign universities, the diplomas of which will be acknowledged in Turkmenistan.
The full version of the interview is available at pro-governmental websites Arzuw and Turkmenportal.
Regrettably, it has not made the situation clear and on the contrary, caused an increasing number of questions.
Below are some important points.
The new regulation is designed to foster the development of Turkmenistan’s industry, set up electronic industry, train highly-qualified national experts capable of implementing a step-by-step transition to digital economy.
Pursuant to the new regulations, only diplomas of state-run higher educational establishments in the CIS will be acknowledged.As regards universities located in countries outside the former Soviet Union, one should be guided by The World University Rankings.
It should be emphasized that the list is updated annually and it is not specified what will happen if the university a student is attending and is doing a course will be excluded from the list.
For clarification, “Chronicles of Turkmenistan” directly contacted the editorial offices of the websites which published the interview, but has received no response so far.
The newly-imposed requirements will apply only to those students who will be or have been admitted to overseas universities AFTER 16 March, 2019 (after the regulation is signed).
Khaidyrov claims, at the same time, that residents who have already graduated from universities or are now doing a full time course of studies BEFORE 9 January 2014 will be able to legalize their diplomas ONLY if their universities fall under all new requirements. “Diplomas obtained by students who were enrolled into higher educational establishments before 9 January 2014 who completed an extramural degree program are subject to legalization only if all requirements are fully complied with”.
New rules will also apply to school graduates doing preparation courses at universities, since they have not yet embarked on full-time study. This implies that a university for which a student is doing a preparation course does not meet the newly-imposed requirements, the diploma will not be acknowledged upon completion of the degree.