Long viewed as an educational backwater, Turkmenistan is advancing ambitious plans to modernize and integrate its higher education system into the global mainstream.
Higher education reforms are being calibrated to help guide the opening and diversification of the Turkmen economy, Azat Atayev, the country’s vice minister of education, said in an interview.
“Traditionally, an education system asks: how many teachers, engineers or economists do we need today?” Atayev said. “We are trying to ask a different question: what skills, professions and economic activities will Turkmenistan need 10 or 15 years from now?”
Turkmen president Serdar Berdymukhamedov in late 2025 approved a 25-year Professional Education Development Strategy, along with an implementation plan covering 2026–2030. Education officials are also working with the UNDP to finalize a National System for Strategic Planning of Human Capital for 2026–2027. The system aims to use AI, analytical modeling, and workforce forecasting to pinpoint skills gaps that need to be closed.
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