British aid managers urge extension of Russian fund

MOSCOW

Managers of a Pounds 4 million British government scheme to help universities design and implement new courses to speed democratic, economic and social reform in the former Soviet Union are hoping to attract new funding for a second generation of projects.

The Department for International Development-funded Regional Academic Programme (Reap) schemes were launched two years ago in Russia, Central Asia, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus. Nearly 100 of 120 planned projects linking British with former Soviet universities have been established on grants averaging Pounds 30,000.

Courses in key areas, including prison officer retraining, applied business studies for engineering students, policing reform, agricultural management, environmental protection and good governance, have been designed by teams from the universities twinned in the programme.

Iain Law, Reap manager for Russia, said the schemes, which built on and expanded an earlier funding vehicle known as Technical Academic Links Scheme, had proven to be an effective tool for speedily implementing retraining courses of key importance to regional reform. "REAP has brought together the top universities in Britain and the former Soviet Union to design courses that are needed now in a cost-effective and efficient manner. At a recent conference in Manchester involving project participants, British Reap coordinators said they felt they were working with the real movers and shakers in the economy," he said.

In Russia 48 of 55 planned schemes had been approved in cities including St Petersburg, Moscow, Omsk, Tomsk, Irkutsk, Kaliningrad, Nizhny Novgorod, Murmansk, Saratov and Samara.

The courses, which include business skills for engineers, marketing, accountancy and management, would replace Soviet-era components that emphasised the role an engineer was expected to play in a planned economy.

"We would very much like the Department for International Development to fund a second generation of Reap schemes. The demand is here and there are many more excellent schemes that could be implemented," Mr Law said.