The official welcome speech of President Jonathan Becker

April 8, 2022

The official welcome speech of President Jonathan Becker at the Open House on April 2, 2022.

Dear prospective students and parents:

I welcome you to the Open Doors Day at the American University of Central Asia.

I want to welcome potential AUCA students. It is a day when you can see our campus and meet our teachers and ask questions of our staff.

I also want to welcome parents. I know that this is a special time when your children decide where they want to study. I have been there recently as I have a son who is a third- year student and a daughter who is a second-year student in university.

We are glad you are here.

Over the last two decades AUCA has established itself amongst the best universities in Central Asia. AUCA is rated the top university in Kyrgyzstan in the QS World University Ratings and one of the top universities in Central Asia. AUCA is also the first university in Central Asia to offer US accredited degrees in liberal arts programs through a partnership with Bard College in the United States. Students who study at AUCA either receive a US accredited degree or a certificate of study.

AUCA offers 15 undergraduate programs:

Anthropology, Technology and International Development
Applied Geology
Applied Mathematics and Informatics
Business Administration
Economics
Environmental Sustainability and Climate Science
European Studies
International and Business Law
International and Comparative Politics
Journalism and Mass Communication
Liberal Arts and Sciences
Psychology
Sociology
Software Engineering
Television, Cinema, and Media Arts

Also 10 MA programs in fields from Business Administration to Economics.

We also host the New Generation Academy – preparatory program.

Why study at AUCA? That’s what you want to know. So let me give you five answers:

We care about students’ learning. We talk about something at AUCA called liberal arts and sciences education. When we say that, we are talking about a system of education which places student learning at the center of what we do. What does this mean?
AUCA has small classes, often around 15 students and usually no more than 20 students so that the teachers can work with students closely;
We work with teachers have trainings with leading US universities so that they can be effective teachers
We have an advising system to support students and answer questions.
We offer WARC (Writing and Academic Resource Center), so if students have challenges in class we help them.

We have excellent teachers. Our faculty are strong teachers and researchers. We have amongst the best local and international faculty in Central Asia, teaching primarily in English to fulfill the mission and values of the University. AUCA has faculty from Kyrgyzstan and international faculty members coming from numerous countries Australia, Canada, Croatia, France, Germany, Japan, Turkey, Russia, South Korea, Ukraine, UK, and the US.

We have wonderful life outside of the classroom. We have a great student life staff. We have numerous student clubs which do everything from art to recycling to business development through Inactus. We have great cultural activities. Yesterday we had a cooking competition where 10 student teams made dishes from Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Europe. We have wonderful civic engagement projects through which students contribute to Kyrgyz society, working with school children in Bishkek, the disabled, and girls in rural communities.

AUCA offers students an amazing international environment and international experiences.

Students come to AUCA from more than 25 countries, including all the Central Asian countries, Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, and the United States. The flags in this room represent countries our students come from.

AUCA is part of the Open Society University Networks which means that they have numerous opportunities to study with students from 40 universities across the globe.

Our students have the option of taking classes which use technology to link students live from multiple countries. I teach a class which has students from Bard College in New York, AUCA, Bard College in Berlin, CEU in Vienna and European Humanities University in Vilnius.

Our students study abroad in programs around the world: Students study in programs in the United States, Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.

The also go to international conferences, international debate tournaments, and participate in international internships.

Job success/Graduates

AUCA students have success because we don’t just teach them a specialty but we teach them how to learn, how to write, how to communicate. These are the skills that companies need in the modern economy.

AUCA Alumni network of more than 4,500 alumni includes top executives and CEOs of local and international companies, successful entrepreneurs and managers, high-level governmental officials, leaders in the nonprofit and non-governmental sector, respected journalists, and University professors worldwide. The list of accolades and accomplishments of AUCA alumni is dizzying. 95% of AUCA graduates have started their careers in 3 months after the graduation. 70% of alumni received a graduate degree after AUCA in different universities of the world.

The roster of high-caliber international companies where AUCA alumni work is extremely large. It includes the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Bloomberg, Baker Tilly, DAAD, DaimlerChrysler, Facebook, GIZ, Google, HSBC, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), OSCE, PHILIPS, The World Bank, United Nations (UN), UNDP, UNICEF, and many international and local companies all around the world.

Two more things:

We know that higher education is not cheap, but it is an investment.

Also, more than 80% of undergraduates, benefit from a merit- and need-based financial aid programs, which provide generous scholarships. The average financial aid is 2,300 USD per student.

AUCA is both an American and a Kyrgyz University.

AUCA continues playing its central role in the educational system of the fast-changing Central Asia, especially Kyrgyzstan. I had the chance to celebrate a joint project between AUCA and the Kyrgyz Academy of Sciences to create a website devoted to helping teachers and students understand the Manas epic. We work with teachers in Kyrgyz schools and the Ministry of Education to improve higher education in Kyrgyzstan. We care about the long-term development of the country.

If you apply and become an AUCA student, we will support you in your prowess in the liberal arts and in your love for the freedom of inquiry and expression that AUCA values the most.

Come and study at AUCA! Thank you!

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