OSCE Border Management Staff College launches first educational event of 2015

Participant during the first learning course of a six-month blended programme for instructors from the border academies of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Dushanbe, 27 January 2015. (OSCE/Ilona Kazaryan)

DUSHANBE, 27 January 2015 – The first learning course of a six-month blended programme for instructors from the border academies of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan was held on 20-27 January 2015 at the OSCE Border Management Staff College (BMSC) in Dushanbe.

The course consisting of three modules: Professional Development of an Instructor; Preparing, Conducting and Evaluating the Learning Process; and the Learning Process in a Higher Education Institution, is developed and co-organized in close co-operation with the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) and the OSCE Centre in Bishkek.

The study programme aims at creating a cadre of experts for the border academies of Central Asia. It is adapted to a training field that changes fast and embraces new methodologies, new discoveries about the way adults learn, and addresses changing expectations of the 21st century’s learners.

”This course is important for instructors at border academies who deliver strategically important knowledge to those responsible for our common security and for countering the current and emerging threats. What we share with them now is required for effective performance in their occupation,” said Chief of Education at the BMSC, Alexander Eliseev.

Professor Talvi Märja from Tallinn University who leads the Train-the-Trainer initiative, said: “It is never too late to learn. This competence-based train-the-trainer course is adapted to the needs of participating countries. It equips lecturers and instructors of border academies with practical skills and the confidence they need to succeed. The classroom phase of the course includes group activities and promotes discussion and peer-to-peer learning.”

This course is one of the 29 educational events planned to be conducted at the BMSC this year.

In 2014 the College organised 21 educational events, welcoming 464 participants from 25 OSCE participating States and seven Partners for Co-operation. It broadened its course offerings by adding the first one-year distance-learning course on Border Security and Management for Senior Leadership (BSMSL) to its list of flagship events, organized a Border Management Staff Course for Female Leaders, and the second Annual Cross-Border Research Conference on ‘Migration and Border Security’.