Mongolia Education

The economic constraints of the restructuring process after 1990 resulted in a significant deterioration in the education system: In rural areas in particular, fewer and fewer children were sent to school, boarding school accommodation and the procurement of teaching materials had become too expensive, and the children were needed as workers in the nomadic economy.

With the economic consolidation and the start of the educational reforms after 2006 and increasingly after 2012, the situation improved. The school entry age was gradually reduced from eight to six years, and the duration of school was increased from eight to 12 years.

The reform program ” The educated Mongol”was supplemented by the program” The Right Child “in 2013. Self-determination and self-confidence of the children had to be strengthened, the teaching content had to be adapted to the requirements of the globalized world and the quality of teaching increased.

According to physicscat, the Mongols strive for close international cooperation. Here, too, Germany is an attractive partner, not only in general and extracurricular areas, but also in higher education. In the 2013/14 academic year, classes began at the joint college for raw materials and technology in Nalaikh.

The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has also been involved in the Mongolian education system since the fall of the Wall, maintained partnership relationships with universities and colleges, and promoted international student and academic exchanges.

According to the Gender Development Index (GDI) 2017, women got the better values for the education indicators. Women attended school for an average of 10.6 years and men for 9.8 years. The expected school years for women are 15.9 and for men 15.0 years. 70 percent of the

students at universities, colleges and colleges are women. In particular, the herding families tend to prefer to send their daughters to higher schools. The young are needed in the livestock industry.

The net enrollment rate, which had fallen below 90 percent after the fall of the Berlin Wall, was 91.5% in 2008, rose to 95.2% in 2012, 96.5% in 2015 and 97.7% in 2018.

30 percent of the population is under 15 years old, 38.6% between 15 and 34 – that poses major challenges for the responsible authorities in Mongolia.

The training was poorly developed in Mongolia even before the turn, it was done in a matter of vocational training centers. Only now is the country beginning to push the training of qualified specialists. The number of technical and vocational schools increased from 44 to 53 in the 2013/14 training year between 2010/11; in 2015/16 there were 49 state and 32 private vocational schools.

In a conversation between the German Ambassador Stefan Duppel and the Minister for Labor and Social Security at the time, N. Nomtoibayar, he expressed the wish for more cooperation in the vocational training sector.

German expertise in particular could help to sustainably promote the Mongolian economy.

According to official information, youth unemployment (15-24 years) is 16.6 percent, according to the National HDI Report 2016 17 percent. The migration rate is given as -0.8 per 1,000 residents.

In the 6th National Population Development Report (NHDR) from 2016, the focus was on youth, their education, training, job opportunities and the necessary government measures.

In the 2018/19 school and apprenticeship year, 597,200 students are studying at 814 state and private general education schools, 563 of them in rural areas and 251 in Ulaanbaatar.

260,000 children attend pre-school facilities, 3,300 more than in the previous year.

Nationwide there are 890 state and 554 private kindergartens, in which 83 percent of all preschool children have a place.

In 2018, nine kindergartens with a total of 1,710 beds and three schools with 1,600 places were opened.

30,000 have started studying at universities and colleges, a total of 150,000 students are enrolled.

16 state universities, colleges and colleges are compared to 80 private and five foreign ones.

However, the quantity cannot hide the inadequate quality of the teaching staff, equipment and teaching content.

The government program to improve training at all educational levels provides for extensive restructuring and changes to the training content. The first and still most recognized university in the country, the Mongolian State University (“National University” in the English-speaking world), is also affected.

Recently, the university administration has complained that it has been misled by the inflationary use of the term “national university” for a number of private schools and, incorrectly, for the Mongolian State University. There would always be confusion. The state university has not changed its name since it was founded in 1942. “Ulsyn” (state) university is not to be equated with “Undesnii” (national) university.

Fight for pay rises

Teachers and doctors in Mongolia earn below average.

Since the government did not see any scope for salary increases on the grounds that there was a lack of funds in the state budget, employees in some schools and kindergartens went on an indefinite strike from September 3, 2018, the beginning of the school year.

After the compromise negotiated in talks between representatives of the Education and Science Union and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Sport on salary increases for employees in schools and kindergartens, the resumption of work was announced on September 17, 2018.

The salaries increase retrospectively from September 1st by between 30 and eight percent, from January 2019 by at least 20 percent.

However, the negotiations continue. Salary increases of 50 percent are required.

Merging of higher education institutions

150,000 students finished their studies in 2017/18, 40 percent found no work or none that corresponded to their training.

The inspections carried out by the responsible ministry in 2017 revealed serious deficiencies in terms of the qualifications of the teaching staff and those of the graduates. Apparently, training is bypassed the needs of the labor market.

Five higher education institutions were merged, five closed.

Since the beginning of the 1990’s the number of universities and colleges has increased from 14 to 96, most of them founded by private sponsors whose staff do not necessarily have the necessary qualifications.