Country Readiness Assessment Report – Kyrgyzstan . While some schools are equipped with modern computer classes, more than half of them do not have computer classes at all. Only a small number of schools have access to the Internet. Most of these are located in Bishkek. According to the Harvard classification, high schools in Kyrgyzstan can be divided into three levels of readiness for the new information network world: • • • more than a half of schools (56%) are at the first level of readiness (schools do not have computers at all); about 35-40% of schools are at the second level (schools have old modification computers (486 and less), but they are not integrated into the educational process, etc.); a small number of schools (mainly schools in Bishkek and private schools) are at the third level of readiness (schools with local networks, access to the web, computers widely used in the education process, etc.). 15 % of schools are equipped with computer classes and endowed with sufficient computers. There is one computer per 330 students in average. 1 to1.5 % of the total number of schools have access to the Internet. Higher education In accordance with data provided by the licensing department of the Ministry of Education and Culture, there are 50 educational institutions and branches of institutions from CIS countries in Kyrgyzstan. There are 188,820 students, and 101,446 are full-time students (1 October 2000). This last figure relates to educational institutions with 168,008 students, i.e. 89% of the total number of students in the country. With respect to the number of students per computer, educational establishments can be subdivided into four groups: • • • • higher educational institutions with less than 10 students per computer. There are 9,173 full-time students (10% of the total number). The number of computers is 1,545 (33.8% of the total numbers of computers). On average there are six full-time students per computer; higher educational institutions with 10 – 20 students per computer. There are 20,623 fulltime students (22.5% of the total number) in this group. The number of computers is 1,307 (28.6%), equivalent to 16 full-time students per computer; higher educational institutions with 21 – 50 students per computer. In this group, there are 52,421 full-time students (57.2% of all students), for 1802 (39.5%) computers. The average is 29 full-time students per computer. higher educational institutions with more than 51 students per computer. In this group, there are 10,324 full-time students (11.3% of all students). The number of computers is 171 (3.7%) giving an average of 60 full-time students per computer. The first group covers institutions that are small in terms of full-time students, while being sufficiently funded. All institutions are connected to the Internet through dedicated lines or through dial-up connections. Students and staff members have practical experience in working with Internet and e-mail, which is heavily used for administrative purposes. There are no old “Soviet” era institutions in this group (ie. pre-1991). 32