In the Soviet days, many foreign countries especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America trained their professional and specialists in the Soviet Union. It contributed to human resource development for these countries. According to information made available, the higher educational institutions of Russia and the former USSR trained over 700,000 foreign specialists (excluding graduates of military educational institutions).
The creation of associations of foreign graduates began in the second half of the 1960s, when the first national associations were formed in Sri Lanka (1966) and Nepal (1967). In the 70s, this process accelerated, associations were established in Lebanon, Mongolia, Ghana, Morocco, Finland and other countries.
Currently, national associations of graduates exist in nearly 70 countries, including the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), for example in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia and Kazakhstan), so also in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The need to coordinate the activities of graduate associations, therefore started in the late 1980s and was realized as a result of the creation in 1989 of the International Corporation of Graduates of Soviet Educational Institutions, simply referred to as Incorvuz. Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 483 of May 17, 1990. The regulation on the Corporation’s activities in the USSR was approved and its status as an international non-governmental organization was consolidated.
Incorvuz
Corporation laid the foundations for interaction with national associations of
graduates and developed the main forms of work. In February 2001, in accordance
with the Law of the Russian Federation “On Non-Profit Organizations”, the
non-profit partnership “International Coordinating Council of Graduates of
Educational Institutions (INCORVUZ-XXI)” was established instead of Incorvuz
Corporation.
Currently, the partnership includes
national associations of graduates from 38 countries of Asia, Africa, the
Middle East, Europe, and Latin America. Chairman – Academician Kostomarov V.G.,
Deputy Chairman – Ex-Deputy Minister of Education of the PRC Liu Limin. The
leadership of the Council since 2015 includes the Alumni Associations of
Vietnam, the Dominican Republic, the Arab Republic of Egypt, Jordan, China,
Lebanon, Poland and Ethiopia.
INCORVUZ-XXI,
in official consultative relations with UNESCO, has special consultative status
of the UN Economic and Social Council, it cooperates and has contractual
relations with international, foreign and Russian state and public bodies.
Over the years, the key focus has been
the examination of documents on
education, academic degrees and advanced training courses received by foreign
citizens in universities of the Russian Federation and the issuance on their
basis of relevant certificates of international recognition in accordance with
the provisions of the UNESCO Conventions.
INCORVUZ-XXI regularly organizes and holds cross exhibitions of higher education in Hubei Province (China), in Moscow (2014) and exhibitions of Russian universities in Wuhan (China) in 2015. It participated in the unveiling of a monument to A.S. Pushkin, the famous Russian poet, in the city of Agadir (Morocco) in 2015, participated in organizing and conducting regional meetings of graduates in Ulan Bator and Amman (2016), the Forum of People’s Diplomacy in Belgorod (2016).
The global movement of foreign graduates of Russian universities is expanding due to new participants. In recent years, members of the organization have become national associations of graduates of Algeria, Israel, Uganda, Belgorod State University Alumni Club. The number of individual partners participating in the INCORVUZ-XXI Alumni World League Program is growing. Events dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Nepal Alumni Association (Mitra Kunj) were held in a festive atmosphere.
Despite its achievements, there are challenges that face the organization.
As always, the planning and
implementation of new projects are strictly limited by the financial
capabilities of an organization that exists on the basis of self-sufficiency.
Unfortunately, national associations of graduates in all regions of the world
are experiencing an increasing shortage of personnel, because a new generation
of graduates prefers virtual communication, which in turn leads to a loss of
continuity in work and damages the activities of public organizations.
The strategic vision for organization’s
further development, among others, is the Partnership Board hopes for success in the
ambitious task of creating an African Regional Union of National Alumni
Associations. The problem has remained very relevant for many years, because
previous attempts to organize and hold such a forum, first in the Congo and
then in Ethiopia, have remained unrealized. INCORVUZ-XXI would very much like
to see as many representatives of the African region, as possible, among the
participants in various on-going projects, so also Soviet and Russian graduates
in regions of Asia and Latin America.
