BISHKEK (TCA) — Over three weeks, the University of Central Asia (UCA) hosted top 73 students from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan at the Second Annual Summer Camp, an integrated academic enrichment experience for Grade 10 students, whose closing ceremony took place at the Royal Beach Resort in Kyrgyzstan’s Issyk-Kul region on August 8. The Summer Camp participants built friendships and long-lasting relationships through science, debate, sports, drama and field trips, where they gained valuable experience practicing English-language skills and studying collaboratively.
“This camp highlights the simple fact that the greatest resource of any society is its human capital, young people in particular,” said UCA Director General Dr Bohdan Krawchenko. “Admission to the summer camp was through an objective selection process. This is a process that reaps huge rewards. When talent is the sole criteria for participation in a programme you will be amazed by the capacities, imagination and commitment of young people. It is the responsibility of those who lead higher educational institutions to nurture and challenge these young people on a journey of intellectual inquiry and professional growth.”
UCA selected the gifted cohort of Central Asian students through a competitive regional admissions process that fielded nearly 600 applications.
Dr Bernadette Dean, Associate Dean of UCA’s undergraduate School of Arts and Sciences commended Summer Camp faculty and counsellors on another successful Summer Camp. Dr Dean encouraged students to use the lessons and guidance from Summer Camp as a roadmap for pursuing the best educational opportunities available.
“The UCA Summer Camp hopes to prepare students for the future, not only by strengthening their language and mathematics skills, but by helping them identify their goals and chart a path forward. Deciding where to attend university is one of the most important decisions a student will make, and we hope that our Summer Camp students will leave here feeling empowered, informed and prepared for this important next step,” she said.
Dr Dean will oversee the arrival of UCA’s inaugural undergraduate class to the University’s first residential campus in Naryn, Kyrgyz Republic. This year’s summer camp participants had the opportunity to visit the UCA campus in Naryn on 3 August before its official opening in September 2016.
UCA is building three residential university campuses of equal size and stature in Naryn, Kyrgyz Republic; Khorog, Tajikistan; and Tekeli, Kazakhstan. In September 2016, UCA will enrol its first undergraduate class at the Naryn campus, offering integrative undergraduate degree programmes in Communications and Media and Computer Science. The campus in Khorog, Tajikistan opening in 2017 will offer Economics and Earth and Environmental Sciences. The third campus in Tekeli, Kazakhstan, is anticipated in 2019 and will offer Engineering Sciences and Business and Management.
The University of Central Asia (UCA) was founded in 2000. The Presidents of Tajikistan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Kazakhstan and His Highness the Aga Khan signed the International Treaty and Charter establishing this secular and private University, which was ratified by the respective parliaments and registered with the United Nations. UCA was established to offer an internationally recognised standard of higher education in Central Asia and prepare graduates to contribute leadership, ideas and innovation to the economies and communities of the region. UCA brings with it the commitment and partnership of the Aga Khan Development Network.
