Mongolia

Mongolia in a nutshell

(sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolia)

Mongolia ( Mongolian: Монгол улс, literally Mongol country/nation) is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only 24 miles (38 km) from Kazakhstan's eastern tip.

Source : http://www.cia.gov

The population of Mongolia is around 2.9 million.

Ulan Bator, the capital and largest city, is home to about 38% of the population.

Mongolia's political system is a parliamentary republic.

At 1,564,116 square kilometres, Mongolia is the nineteenth largest and the most sparsely populated independent country in the world. It is also the world's second-largest landlocked country after Kazakhstan.

The country contains very little arable land, as much of its area is covered by steppes, with mountains to the north and west and the Gobi Desert to the south.

Approximately 30% of the country's people are nomadic or semi-nomadic. However, Mongolia has become more urbanized. About 40 percent of the population lives in Ulaanbaatar, and in 2002 a further 23% lived in Darkhan, Erdenet, the aimag centers and sum-level permanent settlements. Another share of the population lives in the sum centers. In 2002, about 30 percent of all households in Mongolia lived from breeding lifestock. Most herders in Mongolia follow a pattern of nomadic or semi-nomadic pastoralism.

The predominant religion in Mongolia is Tibetan Buddhism, and the majority of the state's citizens are of the Mongol ethnicity, though Kazakhs, Tuvans, and other minorities also live in the country, especially in the west.

Mongolia is divided into 21 aimags (provinces), which are in turn divided into 315 sums (districts). The capital Ulan Bator is administrated separately as a khot (municipality) with provincial status.

The official language of Mongolia is Khalkha Mongolian, which uses the Cyrillic alphabet, and is spoken by 90% of the population. A variety of different dialects are spoken across the country. In the west the Kazakh and Tuvan languages, among others, are also spoken. The Russian language is the most frequently spoken foreign language in Mongolia, followed by English, though English has been gradually replacing Russian as the second language.[citation needed] Korean has gained popularity as tens of thousands of Mongolians work in South Korea.[30] Interest in Chinese, as the language of the other neighbouring power, has been growing. Japanese is also popular among the younger people. A number of older educated Mongolians speak some German, as they studied in the former East Germany, while a few speak other languages from the former Eastern Bloc. Besides that, many younger Mongolians are fluent in the Western European languages as they study or work in foreign countries including Germany, France and Italy.

Mongolia education system

During the state socialist period, education was one of the areas of significant achievement in Mongolia. Illiteracy was virtually eliminated, in part through the use of seasonal boarding schools for children of nomadic families. Funding to these boarding schools was cut in the 1990s, contributing to slightly increased illiteracy.

Primary and secondary education formerly lasted ten years, but was expanded to eleven years. Since the 2008-2009 school year, new first graders are using the twelve year system. As such, full transition to the twelve year system will not happen until the 2019-2020 school year, when the current first graders graduate.

from wikipedia Mongolia's education system has undergone major changes in the past century. The educational reforms during communist times were a stark break with traditional education that was often religious and esoteric. These reforms were modeled on Soviet education systems and greatly expanded access to education for Mongolian citizens. Among the changes was a transition from the traditional Mongolian script, from 1941 to 1946, to the Cyrillic alphabet. Literacy was also greatly expanded as most of the population enjoyed free primary school. However, the move to democracy and free markets in the 1990s has had some negative impacts on education in Mongolia, though these setbacks have been ameliorated some by an improving economy and policy reforms. Many adults also benefit from the non-formal distance education programs sponsored by the government in conjunction with foreign NGOs in Mongolia. Today education in Mongolia is overseen by the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science.

Mongolia has an extensive, state-financed pre-school education system. Currently there are over 700 state and private kindergartens (name for a day care). While during socialist times, every sum used to have at least one nursery school and a kindergarten. Currently there only exist kindergartens that enroll children over the age of 3. In Ulaanbaatar, there are also some privately run nursery schools and kindergartens, many offer language training, for example, Russian.

The system in place for lower-level education in Mongolia has been similar to the one used during communist times, though the government has begun reforms to expand it. The original system included four years of compulsory schooling followed by a further four years of compulsory lower-secondary education. There were then two years of upper-secondary non-compulsory education that either have a vocational, technical, or general education focus.[2] The expansion, began in 2004 with the official school entry age dropping from age 8 to 7. A further expansion is set to take place in 2008 with the entry grade-level dropping one more year to age 6. The goal is to have a 12 year, 6-4-2, system for primary and secondary education.[3]

As of 2003 there were 688 primary and secondary schools with about 528,000 students and 20,725 teachers. There were 32 vocational and technical training centers with 20,000 students and over 800 teachers.[4]

The earliest example of public education in Mongolia is a secular school set up by the Buddhist monk and poet Dazan Ravjaa at the Khamar Monastery in the 1820s.

Higher education

Universities in Mongolia

Mongolian national universities are all spin-offs from the National University of Mongolia and the Mongolian University of Science and Technology.

The broad liberalization of the 1990s led to a boom in private institutions of higher education.

National University of Mongolia (sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_University_of_Mongolia)

The National University of Mongolia (short: NUM; Mongolian Монгол Улсын Их Сургууль, Mongol Ulsyn Ikh Surguul) is the oldest University in Mongolia. It hosts twelve schools and faculties in Ulan Bator, and runs branches in the Zavkhan and Orkhon Aimags. Approximately one third of the academically educated Mongolians have graduated from NUM.

During socialism, the University served as a training center for the party elite. Education was paid for and strictly controlled by the state. After democratization it gradually changed into a more modern university. In 1995 it started to offer bachelor's, master's, and PhD programs.

In 2006 there were 12,000 students enrolled, including 2000 graduate students. The University offers over 80 undergraduate and graduate programs, mostly using Mongolian language as the medium of instruction.

Its web site is in theory at http://www.num.edu.mn but is not always accessible.

Mongolian University of Science and Technology (sourced from its web site at http://www.must.edu.mn/emust/)

The Mongolian University of Science and Technology (MUST), one of the Leading State Universities of the country, is situated on its extensive campuses in Ulaanbaatar City, Darkhan, Erdenet, Uburkhangai, and Sukhbaatar provinces.

MUST is made up of 17 professional schools, colleges and 3 research institutes and 36 experimental and technology centers whose faculty offer educational opportunities to students ranging from first-year undergraduates through doctoral-level candidates in engineering, technology, and others. Currently about 20,000 students including international students are enrolling and enjoying life at the university, and and 120 professors and over 1000 staff are engaged in student training, educational and research activities, university administration and management.

Polytechnics in Mongolia

For some other institutions see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_universities_in_Mongolia

Virtual Campuses in HE

Interesting Programmes

See the Health Sciences University of Mongolia - but there is doubt as to how active this is.

Re.ViCa Case-study

None.

References

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