Beyond the Resource Curse by Shaffer Brenda; Ziyadov Taleh;

Author:Shaffer, Brenda; Ziyadov, Taleh;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Education-Related Expenditures

With growing national revenues during the past decade, both Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have increased education spending. Between 2001 and 2009, Azerbaijan increased state budget spending on education more than fivefold to 8.9 percent of the total state budget in 2009. Spending in Kazakhstan between 2004 and 2008 also grew significantly, increasing threefold to 18.9 percent of the total state budget in 2008.122 To put these numbers in perspective, OECD countries spend on average 12 percent on education as a percent of government budget, with some Gulf countries considerably higher. Post-Soviet countries vary considerably on this indicator.

In addition to increases in teacher salaries, another important component of spending is building and infrastructure, the physical dimensions of education reform. As discussed in the first section, however, a significant peril for oil countries is that education reform will be driven by a broader construction boom and a concurrent desire to achieve quick results. Azerbaijan has focused investments on physical infrastructure such as schools, computers, and free textbooks at the primary and secondary levels. In particular, the government launched a State School Infrastructure Improvement Program (SSIIP) between 2003 and 2008 that resulted in more than 1,200 new schools, 785 schools undergoing repair, and 71 schools being rehabilitated. In addition, more than 200 schools were built under a program funded by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. The government has also supported programs in curriculum development, including a program that provides free textbooks for primary students, teacher development and training programs, and increases in teacher wages. Newer programs have included a focus on preschool education development (2007-10) and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education program (2008-2010).123

Kazakhstan has also embarked upon initiatives to fund school construction and renovation and bring Internet access to all schools. The government is also opening thirty specialized language schools to help the country achieve President Nursultan Nazarbayev's goal of a trilingual society (Kazakh, Russian, and English). Increases in teacher salaries also are expected to continue.124

The construction boom at the primary and secondary levels has also reached higher education, where both governments are spending millions of dollars building new higher education institutions from scratch. Kazakhstan has constructed a new public international university in Astana with support from President Nazarbaev. Government members and other advisors traveled to the UK, U.S., Singapore, and Qatar in 2008 to learn about the higher education institutions of these countries and were most impressed by the latter two. The academic focus will be on a handful of high-tech fields, such as biotechnology and nanotechnology, and the university will integrate teaching and research. Each academic program will have an affiliated foreign institution aiding with academic development, and at least half of the faculty will be from abroad. The government contracted with University College London for preparatory courses in English and science, and 500 students began in September 2010. Although the goal is to build the domestic knowledge base in science and engineering, significant questions remained in 2009 regarding what programs will be chosen, how to arrange international contracting arrangements, and how to attract international staff and administrators.

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