The representative office of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting in Central Asia (IWPR CA) took part in an informational and educational meeting of employers with students of the University of Central Asia in the city of Naryn, Kyrgyz Republic.
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On March 13, 2020, the University of Central Asia (UCA) brought together representatives of various companies on the Naryn campus, where they talked about existing internship programs, and held informal meetings with university students.
UCA’s apprenticeship program involves training integrated into work. As part of UCA’s five-year educational program, students are sent for internships to organizations suitable for them for three years (in summer and winter). Training takes place throughout the entire process, which includes finding a job, acquiring valuable interpersonal skills, internships in the workplace, as well as participating in field research and a joint assessment of the growth of competencies.
The event was attended by representatives of commercial companies, non-governmental organizations and educational programs such as Beeline, the OSCE Academy, Bai Tushum Bank, Logic, Ololo, Ak-Sai Travel, M-Vector, Good neighbors, IT Academy, Crown Agents and others.
Since there are two departments in UCA in Naryn – computer science, as well as the department of communications and the mass media, the informational and educational meeting of employers was divided into two sections on thematic blocks for students in these areas.
First, two panel sessions were held in the library hall of UCA, where first the representatives of the information technology sphere discussed the requirements and trends of the IT sector. Further, a similar discussion was continued by representatives of other companies with a broader profile. In this discussion, IWPR representative Ermek Baisalov, speaking about trends in the media sphere, emphasized the growing role and need for data materials, as well as the growing struggle for reader’s attention and the widespread dissemination of misinformation.
After general thematic discussions, the event was divided into two separate, parallel sessions, where university guests spoke about their organizations. Ermek Baisalov, editor of the analytical materials of the CABAR.asia portal (IWPR CA project), made a presentation where he spoke in detail about the activities of this platform and how students can benefit from a potential internship at IWPR. Since 2019, six UCA students have already completed paid internships at IWPR offices in Bishkek and Dushanbe. During the internship, students gained knowledge and improved existing skills, worked on the production of analytical materials, multimedia materials, and were also involved in project activities.
Editor Ermek Baisalov emphasized that, in addition to practicing at the IWPR office in Kyrgyzstan, UCA students can take part in CABAR.asia periodical schools for young experts and journalists. Within these schools, UCA students have the opportunity to gain knowledge on writing analytical articles and notes, as well as learning the latest programs for collecting, processing and visualizing materials.
After the presentation, students demonstrated their interest and actively asked various questions on the activities of IWPR and CABAR.asia. For example, students were interested in questions of internship conditions in IWPR, topics of potential publications, the peculiarity of creating data materials. Some UCA students noted that the materials of CABAR.asia are quite objective, for example, when covering conflicts, where the opinions of two parties are needed. Therefore, students often use information from CABAR.asia articles in their research papers.
The representative office of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting in Central Asia continues fruitful cooperation with the University of Central Asia and its students.