The Importance of Higher Education

University is a cognitive and rational institution where knowledge is produced and transmitted;

technology and skill usage are instructed (Akşit, 2002: 345). Education covers re-production of individuals and cultures in social sense through the pedagogic techniques, curriculum programmes and ideologies implanting and guiding knowledge (Marshall, 1999: 174).

Education, in additon to increasing the knowledge and skills level of individuals, it is the main input of economic development and basis of life quality. Bozkurt (2004: 286) argues sociologically, education is the strongest tool to make individuals to create the expected results and changes in behaviors, because it secures social and political integration through the creating a common sense under the same institution.

The foundation of the university is strongly matched with Weber’s “social action theory” (cited in Marshall, 1999: 792). Unlike traditional and emotional action types, the two other components of the theory are highly beneficial to understand the establishment of AYU. These are value-based rational action and purpose-value-based rational action. If the foundation of AYU is a case of rational social action, the former one designates to the values of Turkicness and principles of Ahmet Yesevi thought. The latter one also designates to train the generations for the sake of Turkic world’s welfare and future by the means of higher education. AYU submits a functionality of place where the values and traditions of Turkic culture are learned to the students in addition to raising the qualified labor force.

For the socio-economic development, the significant role among the educational levels surely belongs to higher education. Higher education is the last stage before entering into labor force. It is known as the last chance to gain the students the abilities to whom they will need in the market economy. Even if the previous educational stages (secondary or post-secondary) are not

complying with the necessities of capitalist market, the higher education allows students to accumulate professional background.

The knowledge base of the republics of the former Soviet Union is not enough by itself to secure expected economic growth. The republics were in shortage of social capital which is the main motive of the economic development. The enterpreneur culture was lack, and due to the Russians immigration the qualified labour force of the Central Asian republics was decreasing.

On the other hand, the collapse of the socialism has allowed to higher education institutions of the FSU republics to supply the social sciences in the field of economics, management, theology, international journalism, cartography and international relations which had been forbidden in academic sense by the socialist regime (UNDP, 1997:37).

In the new international political economy shaped after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, one of the leading strengths of the Central Asian republics is their literated labor force. The relation between population and economy or between education and development propose a chain of causation. First chain is between social capital, economic activity and income. For this chain, the influence of the amount and charecteristic of social capital is seen as a determining factor for the economic development. Reversely, the second one is also formulated between income, economic activity and social capital. In this causality the role of income is seen as determining factor for the achivement of social capital and qualifications (Kasnakoğlu, 2003: 18-19). In order to give meaning for the relation between the education and development in Kazakhstan or Central Asia, we may empahisize on the first chain, i.e population or social capital. Higher education is one of the best tools enhancing and stocking the social capital.

Until 1991, Moscow provided centrally planned curricula, and textbooks (UNDP, 1997: 31). The intellectual development of the students was under the strong control of the state. In contrast, a qualified system of higher education is a necessity both for intellectual development of human resources for the transition to market economy. Private Turkish educational institutions were also realized for the rationale of meeting the shortage of human resources of the Turkic republics and communities equipped with enterpreneur motives which were required more after the Soviet Union¹, e.g. the establishment of “management institute” in Baku before the disintegration of the

1 www.turan.org/etkinlik/ilkler.htm, 20.05.2005.

Soviet Union. Hence, professional training of young generations is essential for the achievement of global competency in the open economy encountered after 1991 by the republics.

The sufficiency of educational infrastructure or the high literacy rate of the Central Asian republics were not sufficent for the overall development. It is the fact that the literacy indicators due to the system of the Soviet regime were higher than most of the developing countries of the world, but teaching methods of the FSU republics do not compatible with the skills required by capitalist market. The training of human resources by modern and secular education systems is significantly important for the transition economies on the path toward capitalist world-system.

Yelland (2000) argues the skilled labor is the major advantage of the nations to achieve a competent society in the capitalist market economy. It is the human resources who would lead the transition from socialism to capitalism and would develop the expansion of the private sector to which the Central Asian republics need more. It is argued “countries of the former Soviet bloc hope the internationalisation of their higher education institutions will help them make the transition to a more market-oriented economy” (OECD, 1996:114).

It is emphasized that the entire post-Soviet space is exposed to the decisive impact of several powerful processes. Those are the formation of an independent state and the creation of a national economy, the transformation of a command-mobilization economy into one based on the marketplace and globalization (Zhukov, 2002: 354). In fact, the last one much facilitated the establishment of joint venture higher education institutions in Central Asia, but more in Kazakhsan and Kyrgyzstan.

It is known that in the information age the closed education systems will be challenged by the mobility of international higher education systems through the mechanisms of technical assistance, joint venture institutions, virtual campuses, and twinning arrangements so as to eradicate the differences between developed and underdeveloped countries. Turkey as a developing country has committed outstanding technical assistanec to the Central Asian countries either by student exchange programmes like “The Great Student Project” or establishing joint venture universities established in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan.

It is found out that HEIs have central role within the knowledge society to identify political, social, economic, environmental and cultural needs and to solve corresponding problems (OECD, 2004b:14).

It is argued that the reason behind the establishment of the university is also matched with Yesevi’s principle on “science”. In the “information society”, the sole rational collaboration could be secured through education and science. The role of science and education is significant in terms of cultural integration, economic and political cooperation of Turkic world. In this context, in AYU’s Booklet (2002) it is mentioned the university represents the will who would prepare the Turkic world for the information age. AYU does not directly contribute to the advancement of higher education system of Kazakhstan and other republics, instead it explicitly allows Turkish and Turkic youths to embrace and introduce with each other and contribute to the socio-economic development of the republics.

According to Parsons, the founder of structural functionalism theory, the education institutions function both socialize and also allocate student for the position of adults in the future. In that sense, the students of AYU implicitly are assigned to recover the relations broken by the socialist regime. Parsons’s social sytem theory emphasize that the modern society will be achieved then after the emergence of three kinds of revolution. These revolutions take place as the action of different sub-systems of the social sytem. The first one is economic sytem’s industrial revolution. The second one is political system’s France revolution and the third one is the establishment and differentiation of modern university of education system. In fact, the revolutions have experienced by Kazakhstan and other Central Asian republics. The revolutions respectively could be the heavy industrialization during the Soviet rule; the independence declerations and enhancement of the democratic systems; and the rising number of private universities established in the post-independence period. In that sense, AYU being the first, international and autonomous university of Central Asia occupies the position of facilitator which allows switching to the last revolutionary stage (Parsons, 1973, cited in Akşit, 2002).