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During a five day trip to Central Asia, His Highness signed
an international Treaty on behalf of the Ismaili Imamat with the Presidents
of Tajikistan (August 28), Kyrgyzstan (August 30), and Kazakhstan (August
31) to create the University of Central Asia. The Treaty will now go to
the parliaments of the three "Founding States", and once it is approved
by at least two of them, the University will come into being as an international
organisation subject to international law. The treaty provides for other
states in and adjoining the region to join the institution at a later
date as "Participating States".
At each signing ceremony, His Highness announced a gift
of $5 million to the University's endowment, the proceeds of which will
be earmarked for expenditure in that particular country. With an initial
endowment of $15 million, the University of Central Asia is probably the
most highly endowed institution of higher education in the region.
The University of Central Asia will be a single legal entity
with its main campus in Khorog in Tajikistan, and programmes and facilities
in the eastern (and mountainous) regions of the other two countries. The
first offerings of the University will be through its division of Continuing
Education, and should become available within 12 months of the university's
legal establishment. An interdisciplinary graduate programme leading to
a Masters degree will come next. The undergraduate programme will be the
last to come into being. It will offer options for concentration in the
engineering sciences, the natural sciences, the social sciences, and cultural
studies, but all students will be exposed to courses across all these
clusters, and courses in market economics, field research methods, and
institutions of civil society will be required. All of the academic programmes
will make aggressive use of information and communications technologies
and the primary language of instruction for the graduate and undergraduate
programmes will be English.
An array of print and video materials will be developed
for the next three to four months that will provide information for distinct
audiences.
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