Internationalisation of Higher Education in Belarus: External Survey

Internationalisation of Higher Education in Belarus: External REPORT Survey

Research conducted n frames of HARMONY project, KA2 Erasmus + Programme – Capacity Building Introduction

This report is prepared in the framework of HARMONY project (Development of approaches to harmonization of comprehensive internationalization strategies in higher education, research and innovation at EU and Partner Countries) funded by the Erasmus + Programme (KA2 Erasmus + Programme – Capacity Building) of the European Union.

HARMONY Project No: 561561-EPP-1-2015-1-ES-EPPKA2-CBHE-SP

The questionnaire was prepared with the purpose of analysing the level of internationalisation of higher education, research and innovation in countries participating in the project. The questionnaire development was achieved through methodological workshop on questionnaire drafting. The questionnaire drafting was produced by partners for each Partner country: Armenia, Belarus and Russia as well for EU countries in order to address the peculiarities of each side.

This report analysis the current state of higher education internationalization in Belarus based on the study outcomes.

Implementation:

The questionnaire developed within the HARMONY project was sent to the universities by the Ministry of Education of Belarus to all higher education institutions, the responses were collected by the Belarus State University staff.

General information

 The data is provided for 2015-2016 academic year.  38 universities answered the external questionnaire in Belarus out of 51 universities.  Specialized institutions have not been covered (such as the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs etc.)

Questionnaire to evaluate the internationalization of HEIs: breakdown and qustions

• 1.1. Number of enrolled full-time (all levels) General Information and • 1.2. Number of academic staff internationalization of • 1.3. Number of staff in international office • 1.4 Do you have strategic internationalization plan? management • 1.5. Do you have legal frameworks to manage international activity?

• 2.1. Number of students (all levels) sent abroad • 2.2. Top 5 host countries for students • 2.3. Number of international students (all levels, both degree- International Mobility seeking and exchange) • 2.4. Top 5 countries of origin of international students • 2.5. Do you assist your staff and students in participation in mobility programs?

• 3.1. Number of international teaching staff ( both temporary and permanent) • 3.2. Number of staff (all categories) sent abroad • 3.3. Number of international joint/double/multiple degrees programs (All levels) Internationalization of • 3.4. Do you offer programs in English or other foreign teaching and academic languages? • 3.5. Do you offer financial incentives for staff to learn programs foreign languages and to carry out teaching activities in foreign languages? • 3.6. Do you have strategy and special funding to support international staff recruitment? • 3.7. Do you have study programs where mobility windows are incorporated into the curriculum?

• 4.1. Do you have web-site in English • 4.2. Number of international fairs (education, research, R&D, etc.) where institution has been presented International Impact and • 4.3. Number of international partnerships Visibility • 4.4. Number of memberships in international associations and networks • 4.5. Do you have internal unit / working group to deal with international rankings?

• 5.1. Number of international research projects Research and Education • 5.2. Number of international educational projects projects • 5.3. Do you assist your staff in participation in international programs and projects

Name of your Institution Acronym 1 Belarusian State University BSU 2 Belarusian National Technical University BNTU 3 Brest State Technical University BSTU-Brest 4 Brest State University named after A.S. Pushkin BRSU 5 Belarussian-Russian university BRU 6 Belarusian State Academy of Arts BSAA (Arts) 7 Belarusian state academy of aviation BSAA (Aviation) 8 Belarusian State Academy of Communication BSAC 9 Belarus State Economic University BSEU 10 Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts BSUCA 11 Grodno State Agrarian University GSAU 12 Gomel State Medical University GSMU 13 Sukhoi State Technical University of Gomel GSTU 14 Gomel State University named after Francisk Skorina GSU 15 Private Institute of Management and Business MBI 16 Institute of Parliamentarism and Business PBI 17 International Humanitarian and Economic Institute IHEI 18 International University «MITSO» MITSO 19 Mozyr State Pedagogical University named after I.P.Shamyakin MSPU 20 Mogilev State University named after A. Kuleshov MSU 21 Mogilev State University of Food Technologies MGUP 22 Vitebsk State Medical University VSMU 23 Vitebsk State University named after P.M. Masherov VSU 24 Vitebsk State Academy of Veterinary Medicine VSAVM 25 Grodno State University named after Yanka Kupala GRSU 26 Vitebsk State Technological University VSTU 27 Grodno State Medical University GSMU 28 Belarusian State University of Physical Education BSUPC 29 Belarusian State Medical University BSMU 30 Minsk Innovation University MIU 31 Belarusian State Pedagogical University Named after Maxim Tank BSPU 32 Belarusian State Academy of Agriculture BSAA- Agriculture 33 Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics BSUIR 34 Institute of Modern Knowledge named after AM Shirokov IMK 35 Minsk State Linguistic University MSLU 36 Belarusian Trade and Economics University of Consumer Cooperatives BTEU 37 Belarusian State Technological University BSTU 38 Private Establishment of Education "BIP-Institute of Justice BIP

Analysis of section 1. General Information and internationalization of management

Based on the data the largest respondent university in Belarus with the highest number of student population is Belarusian National Technical University (BNTU) with 16,890 full time students, 1,902 academic staff (Table 1). Belarus State University (BSU) follows with almost the same student cohort (16,494), but interestingly, both the number of academic staff and the number of staff in the international office is twice larger in comparison to BNTU (See Table 1 and Chart 1).

Table 1. General Information

Name of your Institution Number of enrolled Number of Number of Student full-time students academic staff in the and (of all academic staff International academic cyrcles) Office staff ratio BSU 16,494 2,439 23 7 BNTU 16,890 1,902 13 9 BSTU-Brest 4,153 466 6 9 BRSU 4,115 490 5 8 BRU 5,974 374 4 16 BSAA (Arts) 966 204 3 5 BSAA (Aviation) 1,125 138 0 8 BSAC 460 74 0 6 BSEU 8,431 1,065 4 8 BSUCA 2,703 361 5 7 GSAU 1,616 337 3 5 GSMU 3,900 464 0 8 GSTU 2,382 319 3 7 GSU 5,752 643 6 9 MBI 99 77 4 1 PBI 68 33 0 2 IHEI 50 41 1 1 MITSO 2,259 135 6 17 MSPU 1,857 209 4 9 MSU 2,767 343 5 8 MGUP 5,133 279 4 18 VSMU 5,225 679 5 8 VSU 3,937 486 5 8 VSAVM 2,454 323 2 8 GRSU 7,590 727 18 10 VSTU 1,822 300 3 6 GSMU 4,169 493 3 8 BSUPC 2,332 362 4 6 BSMU 6,968 1,009 4 7 MIU 680 130 1 5 BSPU 5,489 737 7 7 BSAA- Agriculture 4,120 553 4 7 BSUIR 10,000 700 10 14 IMK 572 92 0 6 MSLU 6,992 714 5 10 BTEU 4,584 231 5 20

BSTU 5,917 630 5 9 BIP 1,294 195 1 7

Chart 1. Number of staff in the International Office

BIP 1 BSTU 5 BTEU 5 MSLU 5 IMK 0 BSUIR 10 BSAA- Agriculture 4 BSPU 7 MIU 1 BSMU 4 BSUPC 4 GSMU 3 VSTU 3 GRSU 18 VSAVM 2 VSU 5 VSMU 5 MGUP 4 MSU 5 MSPU 4 MITSO 6 IHEI 1 PBI 0 MBI 4 GSU 6 GSTU 3 GSMU 0 GSAU 3 BSUCA 5 BSEU 4 BSAC 0 BSAA (Aviation) 0 BSAA (Arts) 3 BRU 4 BRSU 5 BSTU-Brest 6 BNTU 13 BSU 23

0 5 10 15 20 25

Availability of Internationalization Strategic Plan Out of 38 respondents, 14 universities have reported that have internationalization strategy available (see Chart 2). Only 7 universities have attached an internationalization strategy though, which is in most cases incorporated in the University Strategic Master Plan, as a separate section. Among the universities that have submitted a document on internationalization strategy are BSU, BTEU, GRSU and BSEU. The other three universities have incorporated internationalization strategy in the overall strategic plan of the university.

Provided strategies are lacking concrete key performance indicators though (process, outcome and/or impact indicators) and targets, which makes the monitoring and quality assurance, as well as enhancement unrealistic.

The Strategic plans are also lacking strengths and weakness analysis (only two universities have SWOT on internationalization), risks and assumptions, timeframe, resource planning, policies etc.

Chart 2. Availability of Internationalization Strategic Plan Strategic Planning of internationalization Does your HEI have a strategic plan of internationalization? Please, attach

yes 37%

no 63%

Availability of Internal Procedures and Regulations on Management of International Activity

23 universities have responded positively on the availability of regulatory framework on managing international activity and procedures (Chart 3.). Most universities did not provide concrete examples though.

Among the common regulatory mechanisms and regulatory frameworks are mentioned the availability of learning agreements, three party mobility plan, Regulation on the structural division, Regulation on the order of sending employees and students on business trips etc.

Several universities have referenced the Belarusian legislation and see no need for developing regulatory internal framework.

Three universities, including Mogilev State University of Food Technologies, Vitebsk State University named after P.M. Masherov, Belarusian State Medical University have undergone ISO 9001 certification. International activity is included in the scope of certification of the quality management system for compliance with the requirements of ISO 9001.

Chart 3. Availability regulatory framework Does your HEI have a regulatory framework for management of international activity? Plaese, give a brief description of the ongoing work in this direction.

no 39%

yes 61%

In general, there is lack of well-coordinated set of formal policies, procedures and guidelines for guiding the management of international activities institution‐wide and concrete regulations, procedures and guidelines on managing international projects, incoming and outgoing mobility and other programs, benchmarking, research, innovation, dissemination etc.), with only several exceptions.

Analysis of section 2. International Mobility Outgoing and incoming student mobility

Chart 4 Illustrates the absolute numbers of incoming and outgoing students in the respondent universities. Big differences and imbalances are observed among universities, as well as between the number of incoming and outgoing students. There are several universities (including BSU, BNTU, BSMU and VSMU), which could be considered top sending when observing the absolute numbers. When observing the total number of inbound mobility in comparison with the total student cohort (%), the highest scores safeguard IHEI (a small private university with only 50 full time students), BSMU and VSMU (all three universities have above 20 % inbound student mobility). The outgoing mobility percentage is quite low in most universities.

A detailed information on the top hosting countries, as well as top countries of origin of international students are provided in the table 3 and 4 respectively.

Chart 4. Student mobility

BIP 20 BSTU 206 BTEU 385 MSLU 798 IMK 27 BSUIR 650 BSAA (Agriculture) 472 BSPU 576 MIU 83 BSMU 1,637 BSUPC 223 GSMU 710 VSTU 172 GRSU 676 VSAVM 170 VSU 73 VSMU 1,070 Number of incoming students (of all academic MGUP 89 cyrcles, including full-degree students and exchange MSU 260 students) MSPU 189 Number of outgoing students MITSO 197 IHEI 13 PBI 0 MBI 3 GSU 550 GSTU 109 GSMU 550 GSAU 134 BSUCA 211 BSEU 756 BSAC 8 BSAA (Aviation) 49 BSAA (Arts) 48 BRU 270 BRSU 468 BSTU-Brest 253 BNTU 1,593 BSU 2,365 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500

Chart 5. prcentage of international students in the total student number/%/

% of incoming students % of outgoing students

2 BIP 0 3 BSTU 1 8 BTEU 0 11 MSLU 4 5 IMK 9 7 BSUIR 2 11 BSAA (Agriculture) 0 10 BSPU 1 12 MIU 2 23 BSMU 1 10 BSUPC 0 17 GSMU 1 9 VSTU 0 9 GRSU 2 7 VSAVM 0 2 VSU 2 20 VSMU 1 2 MGUP 2 9 MSU 3 10 MSPU 1 9 MITSO 4 26 IHEI 2 0 PBI 0 3 MBI 2 10 GSU 0 5 GSTU 0 14 GSMU 0 8 GSAU 2 8 BSUCA 0 9 BSEU 2 2 BSAC 8 4 BSAA (Aviation) 0 5 BSAA (Arts) 2 5 BRU 1 11 BRSU 0 6 BSTU-Brest 1 9 BNTU 1 14 BSU 3

Table 3. Top five host countries by universities Name of your Institution 1 country 2 country 3 country 4 country 5 country BSU Russia Germany Poland China Sweden BNTU Russia China Poland Germany Spain BSTU-Brest Russia Poland Turkey Germany South Korea BRSU Germany Poland Switzerland Spain Greece BRU Russia Italy 0 0 0 BSAA (Arts) Germany Russia Poland Austria Lythuania BSAA (Aviation) 0 0 0 0 0 BSAC Latvia China Russia Бразилия Финляндия BSEU Germany Russia Poland Spain Italy BSUCA Russia 0 0 0 0 GSAU Germany Poland Sweden 0 0 GSMU Russia Greece China 0 0 GSTU Russia 0 0 0 0 GSU Germany Poland Russia Romania Japan MBI Norway 0 0 0 0 PBI 0 0 0 0 0 IHEI Britain Spain Russia Ukraine Lythuania MITSO Russia Latvia Poland Germany USA MSPU China Germany Russia Ukraine 0 MSU Russia France Poland Estonia Armenia Czeck MGUP Italy Poland Russia Germany Republic VSMU Russia Poland 0 0 0 Czeck VSU Russia Poland Republic Sweden VSAVM Germany Estonia 0 0 0 GRSU Poland Russia Lythuania Latvia Ukraine VSTU Bulgaria 0 0 0 0 GSMU Poland Russia Lythuania Germany Britain BSUPC Latvia 0 0 0 0 BSMU Russia Poland Japan Hungary MIU Russia China 0 0 0 BSPU Austria Armenia Russia China Italy BSAA (Agriculture) Poland Latvia Italy 0 0 BSUIR Russia China Singapore Austria Poland IMK Russia Germany Czeck Republic Poland 0 MSLU China South Korea Oman Spain Czeck BTEU Russia Republic Portugal Greece France BSTU Russia Poland Ukraine China Germany BIP 0 Poland 0 China 0

Table 4. Top sending countries by university BSU China Turkmenistan Russia Kazakhstan South Korea BNTU Russia Tajikistan Turkmenistan China Iran BSTU-Brest Turkmenistan China Nigeria Pakistan Bangladesh BRSU Turkmenistan Russia Ukraine Kazakhstan Azerbaijan BRU Turkmenistan China Syria Vietnam Ukraine BSAA (Arts) China Russia Syria Turkmenistan Latvia BSAA (Aviation) Turkmenistan Tajikistan Russia Uszbekistan Gerogia BSAC Russia Turkmenistan 0 0 0 BSEU Turkmenistan КНР Iran Russia Turkey BSUCA China Russia Turkmenistan Ukraine Kazakhstan GSAU Turkmenistan Nigeria Iraq Russia Эквадор GSMU Turkmenistan India Sri-Lanka Russia Nigeria GSTU Turkmenistan Russia Ukraine Egypt Iraq GSU Turkmenistan China Russia Azerbaijan Iraq MBI Russia Ukraine 0 0 0 PBI 0 0 0 0 0 IHEI Russia Latvia Ukraine Azerbaijan Lythuania MITSO Russia Kazakhstan Ukraine Azerbaijan Armenia MSPU Turkmenistan Russia China Ukraine Azerbaijan MSU Turkmenistan China Russia Ukraine Turkey MGUP Turkmenistan Azerbaijan Ukraine Latvia Pakistan VSMU Turkmenistan Sri-Lanka Livan Nigeria Russia VSU Russia China Poland 0 0 VSAVM Turkmenistan Russia Ukraine Livan Uszbekistan GRSU Turkmenistan Russia Azerbaijan Ukraine Kazakhstan VSTU Turkmenistan Russia Iraq 0 0 GSMU Nigeria India Turkmenistan Russia Sri-Lanka BSUPC Turkmenistan China Russia Ukraine Azerbaijan BSMU Iran Turkmenistan Livan Iraq Russia MIU Russia Azerbaijan Ukraine Uszbekistan Turkmenistan BSPU Turkmenistan КНР РФ Azerbaijan Lythuania BSAA (Agriculture) Turkmenistan China Монголия Iraq Руанда Czeck BSUIR Kazakhstan China Tunisia Republic Serbia IMK Russia Ukraine Lythuania Estonia Moldova MSLU Turkmenistan China Turkey Russia Ukraine BTEU Tajikistan Turkmenistan Ukraine Turkey Russia BSTU Turkmenistan Livan Russia Cameroon Bangladesh BIP Russia Azerbaijan Kazakhstan Ukraine Serbia

Methodological assistance to the students and employees

Chart 7. Availability of methodological assistance

No 16%

Yes 84%

The vast majority of universities questioned (32 out of 38) provide methodological assistance to the students and employees to participate in academic mobility programs. The universities have clearly mentioned number of services and types of support activities during the mobility, including but not limited to assistance during the nomination and application procedure, visa, orientation meetings, credit transfer, trained support and monitoring of training in a foreign university, ongoing consultations etc.

Analysis section 3. Internationalization of teaching and academic programs

Incoming academic staff

BSU and GRSU are leading by the number of academic staff with a temporary visit. The statistics on formal employment is quite low in all of the respondent universities: most universities have 0 international staff with formal contract and only several universities have reported 1 or 2 %. See Chart 8 and 9 for detailed statistics.

Chart 8. Number of Incoming faculty

0 BIP 4

0 BSTU 20

4 BTEU 3

10 MSLU 24

0 IMK 0

14 BSUIR 5

0 BSAA (Agriculture) 6

2 BSPU 37

0 MIU 2

2 BSMU 0

0 BSUPC 7

0 GSMU 0

0 VSTU 1

2 GRSU 56

0 VSAVM 1

1 VSU 1

0 VSMU 11

0 MGUP 8 1 who are employed under formal MSU 13 employment contract in your institution 0 MSPU 0 who temporary visit your institution to 0 carry out teaching activity MITSO 12

0 IHEI 0

0 PBI 0

0 MBI 1

1 GSU 9

0 GSTU 1

0 GSMU 0

0 GSAU 3

1 BSUCA 22

7 BSEU 2

0 BSAC 6

0 BSAA (Aviation) 0

0 BSAA (Arts) 0

2 BRU 9

0 BRSU 5

6 BSTU-Brest 3

15 BNTU 5

20 BSU 58

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Chart 9. Percentage of Incoming faculty in total faculty who are employed under formal employment contract in your institution /%/

BIP 0 BSTU 0 BTEU 2 MSLU 1 IMK 0 BSUIR 2 BSAA (Agriculture) 0 BSPU 0 MIU 0 BSMU 0 BSUPC 0 GSMU 0 VSTU 0 GRSU 0 VSAVM 0 VSU 0 VSMU 0 MGUP 0 MSU 0 who are employed under formal MSPU 0 employment contract in your institution MITSO 0 /%/ IHEI 0 PBI 0 MBI 0 GSU 0 GSTU 0 GSMU 0 GSAU 0 BSUCA 0 BSEU 1 BSAC 0 BSAA (Aviation) 0 BSAA (Arts) 0 BRU 1 BRSU 0 BSTU-Brest 1 BNTU 1 BSU 1 0 1 1 2 2 3

Academic staff sent abroad

The universities that have reported a higher percentage of academic staff send abroad are (Chart 10):

 MITSO (52%)  BSUIR (51%)

 BSU (38%)  BSUCA (37%)  BSTU (32%)

Seven universities have either no or very small number of outgoing mobility of academic staff.

Chart 10. Academic staff (of all categories) sent abroad /%/

BIP 0 BSTU 32 BTEU 6 MSLU 24 IMK 3 BSUIR 51 BSAA (Agriculture) 18 BSPU 11 MIU 0 BSMU 13 BSUPC 3 GSMU 19 VSTU 0 GRSU 33 VSAVM 6 VSU 21 VSMU 7 MGUP 15 MSU 11 MSPU 5 MITSO 52 IHEI 7 PBI 0 MBI 4 GSU 19 GSTU 0 GSMU 0 GSAU 7 BSUCA 37 BSEU 7 BSAC 16 BSAA (Aviation) 1 BSAA (Arts) 3 BRU 21 BRSU 3 BSTU-Brest 5 BNTU 15 BSU 38 0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Strategy to attract foreign professors

Based on the data provided 53 % (20 universities) of respondent universities declare the existence of strategy to attract foreign professors and distinguished academic staff, or has separate funding. Most universities have mentioned national and international funds, as a major source to finance the academic staff mobility, with only several exceptions (e.g. Grodno State University named after Yanka Kupala) that also have allocated internal budget.

There is dependence from the international and intergovernmental funds and programs, absence of clear strategy and efforts, as well as lack of concrete policies to attract international faculty.

Chart 11. Strategy to attract foreign professors Does your HEI have a strategy to attract foreign professors and distinguished academic staff or a separate funding?

No 47% Yes 53%

System of rewards for teaching in English

Several universities claim of having system of financial rewards of employees who study and teach foreign languages. The universities have mentioned the individual bonuses, two-fold increase in an hourly rate, 25% increase in wages. One university has mentioned that when hiring the priority is given to academic staff able to teach in English.

The rest of the universities have reported no information on the reward system, or any mechanism to distinguish the faculty teaching in foreign languages.

Chart 12. The availability of system of rewards for teaching in English Does your HEI have a system of financial rewards for employees who study foreign languages and teaching in foreign languages?

No Yes 50% 50%

Internationalization of academic programs

The BSEU is leading with the number of joint/double/multiple degrees and academic programs (9 degrees), followed by MITSO, GSU, MSLU. 16 respondents have no available program and collaborative initiative (Chart 13).

Chart 13. Number of Joint/double/multiple degree academic programs

BIP 2 BSTU 1 BTEU 1 MSLU 7 IMK 3 BSUIR 1 BSAA (Agriculture) 0 BSPU 0 MIU 2 BSMU 0 BSUPC 0 GSMU 0 VSTU 0 GRSU 0 VSAVM 0 VSU 3 VSMU 2 MGUP 1 MSU 2 MSPU 0 MITSO 8 IHEI 3 PBI 0 MBI 0 GSU 7 GSTU 1 GSMU 0 GSAU 0 BSUCA 0 BSEU 9 BSAC 5 BSAA (Aviation) 1 BSAA (Arts) 0 BRU 1 BRSU 0 BSTU-Brest 1 BNTU 1 BSU 4 0 2 4 6 8 10

The vast majority of the universities (see Chart 14) have available academic courses/programs in English or in other foreign languages (26 out of 38), but it is unclear how many courses are offered, as the universities haven’t attached the list (as requested).

Chart 14. Availability of courses and programs in foreign languages Does your HEI offer academic courses/programs in English or in other foreign languages? Please, attach a list of the courses/programs and give a brief description of the ongoing work

No 32%

Yes 68%

Only 14 respondents report on the availability of training program available at the university within any mobility window (Chart 15). The rest of the universities have no program available.

Chart 15. International training though mobility window

Yes 37%

No 63%

Analysis section 4. International Impact and Visibility

Most of the respondent universities have utmost four languages available to promote the website internationally. Out of 38 universities 8 have part of the website (not total translation) available in 5 or more languages.

MSLU has reported quite high number (14) of languages to promote the web-site worldwide. Apart from the Russian and English, the university has several pages available in other languages taught at the university (Chart 16).

Chart 16. Web-site languages

BIP 1 BSTU 9 BTEU 1 MSLU 14 IMK 0 BSUIR 1 BSAA (Agriculture) 0 BSPU 0 MIU 1 BSMU 9 BSUPC 1 GSMU 1 VSTU 2 GRSU 3 VSAVM 3 VSU 5 VSMU 7 MGUP 1 Number of foreign languages used MSU 6 to promote a web-site of your MSPU 4 institution. Please, list below and MITSO 5 give a grief description of the IHEI 1 ongoing work in this direction. PBI 0 MBI 0 GSU 2 GSTU 0 GSMU 4 GSAU 2 BSUCA 2 BSEU 4 BSAC 1 BSAA (Aviation) 1 BSAA (Arts) 2 BRU 2 BRSU 4 BSTU-Brest 3 BNTU 2 BSU 5 0 5 10 15

The highest participation number in international fairs has reported the BSU (53) followed by the BSUIR (40). 8 universities have participated on no international fairs and the rest of the universities have very limited experience in this domain (see Chart 17. for further details).

Chart 17. Participation in international fairs

BIP 2 BSTU 20 BTEU 5 MSLU 5 IMK 9 BSUIR 40 BSAA (Agriculture) 7 BSPU 0 MIU 0 BSMU 7 BSUPC 6 GSMU 0 VSTU 15 GRSU 5 VSAVM 9 VSU 5 VSMU 0 MGUP 5 Number of international fairs MSU 3 (education, research, R&D, etc) MSPU 3 where your institution has been MITSO 2 presented IHEI 0 PBI 0 MBI 1 GSU 10 GSTU 19 GSMU 0 GSAU 2 BSUCA 3 BSEU 2 BSAC 2 BSAA (Aviation) 0 BSAA (Arts) 5 BRU 11 BRSU 7 BSTU-Brest 11 BNTU 19 BSU 53 0 10 20 30 40 50 60

The highest number of international agreements among the state universities has reported BSU. 121 universities have more than 100 agreements. The study is limited to only quantitative data, and there is no information on the number of active agreements and other qualitative data (Chart 18).

Chart 18. International agreements

BIP 15 BSTU 177 BTEU 41 MSLU 133 IMK 16 BSUIR 135 BSAA (Agriculture) 112 BSPU 92 MIU 40 BSMU 90 BSUPC 63 GSMU 59 VSTU 55 GRSU 136 VSAVM 65 VSU 103 VSMU 61 MGUP 42 MSU 67 Number of international MSPU 87 agreements / partnerships MITSO 46 IHEI 3 PBI 4 MBI 14 GSU 136 GSTU 58 GSMU 36 GSAU 60 BSUCA 82 BSEU 103 BSAC 37 BSAA (Aviation) 4 BSAA (Arts) 42 BRU 103 BRSU 57 BSTU-Brest 130 BNTU 108 BSU 418 0 100 200 300 400 500

BSMU is in a leading position with the number of international associations and networks (135). The rest of the universities have reported a number below 15 (Chart 19).

Chart 19. Number of memberships

BIP 5 BSTU 10 BTEU 5 MSLU 4 IMK 0 BSUIR 6 BSAA (Agriculture) 3 BSPU 4 MIU 3 BSMU 135 BSUPC 1 GSMU 5 VSTU 2 GRSU 11 VSAVM 1 VSU 17 VSMU 9 MGUP 4 MSU 3 Number of memberships in MSPU 2 international assosiations and networks MITSO 12 IHEI 0 PBI 1 MBI 0 GSU 7 GSTU 2 GSMU 1 GSAU 1 BSUCA 1 BSEU 6 BSAC 3 BSAA (Aviation) 2 BSAA (Arts) 3 BRU 2 BRSU 1 BSTU-Brest 3 BNTU 9 BSU 13 0 50 100 150

Although 17 universities have a separate division/working group responsible for the participation in the international rankings (Chart 20), only two university (BSU and BNTU) are represented in top 1000 in international rankings (THE, QS etc).

Chart 20. Working group for International ranking Does your HEI have a separate division/working group responsible for the participation on the international rakings?

Yes 45%

No 55%

Analysis section 5. International research and educational projects

Chart 21 depicts the drastic differences among the universities on the availability of research and educational projects. BSU and BSUIR have almost the same number of international research projects, but in comparison to BSU, BSUIR has quite low number of international educational projects. In most of the universities huge imbalance between research and educational projects is observed and only MITSO and BSU have balanced number of two types of international projects.

Chart 21. Research vs. educational projects

BIP 0 2 BSTU 3 15 BTEU 23 MSLU 7 14 IMK 0 2 BSUIR 12 44 BSAA (Agriculture) 0 4 BSPU 23 1 MIU 0 BSMU 16 21 BSUPC 0 2 GSMU 1 3 VSTU 4 GRSU 1215 VSAVM 12 VSU 4 6 VSMU 2 MGUP 2 9 Number of international MSU 2 4 educational projects MSPU 1 0 Number of international MITSO 26 research projects IHEI 1 PBI 01 MBI 0 2 GSU 7 28 GSTU 2 5 GSMU 0 3 GSAU 1 3 BSUCA 01 BSEU 0 BSAC 1 4 BSAA (Aviation) 01 BSAA (Arts) 0 2 BRU 3 BRSU 0 7 BSTU-Brest 3 5 BNTU 5 9 BSU 36 40 0 10 20 30 40 50

The last question on methodological assistance to employees for participating in the international programs and projects was equaly splitted to positive and negative responses (Chart 22). The universities claiming availability of methodological assistance have provided several examples of support.

Chart 22. Methodological assistance Do you offer methodical assistance to employees for participating in the international programs and projects?

No Yes 50% 50%

Some examples of the methodological assistance given by the universities are as follows:

- project search, - info sessions on different grant opportunities, - invitations of different experts on regular basis, - internal guidelines on running and monitoring the projects, - support for filling in the applications forms of programs and for the preparation of the other required documents, - organization of seminars, trainings etc, - in case if the project gets funding, the centres support in allocating staff also from international office, - dissemination information about the on-going projects and major outcomes, - administrative support upon the project implementation etc.

References

 www.edu.gov.by  www.studyinbelarus.com