Health & Education
From The Report: Mongolia 2013
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While it is much improved from its state of near-collapse following the end of the Soviet period, health care has failed to truly recover. Thanks to the work of a number of donors, a few local doctors, and small investments made by international medical groups, it has experienced some improvements. However, the health care industry is underfunded, lacking in qualified doctors, and almost devoid of preventative care. Despite the sector’s weakness, it has a number of assets that could help it over the long term, including an extensive history of traditional medicine, which is enjoying a revival. Mongolia also has many well-qualified and experienced doctors who have the technical knowledge to help push the sector forward. The education sector is underfunded and poorly managed. With the country set to come into substantial wealth from mining, it needs to spend that money wisely so that its citizens have the skills, expertise and knowledge to make a living from the industry now as well as continue to thrive after the minerals are depleted. Boosting bilingual education is a new initiative, and steps will be taken to improve the quality of higher education institutions. The government is open to foreign participation, but is most interested in tangible aid, such as school construction.

This chapter contains an interview with Peter Morrow, Chairman of the American University of Mongolia

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Health challenges: Finding safe channels to address shortcomings in the provision of care
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Of all the major sectors in the Mongolian economy, only one has failed to stage a significant recovery since the end of socialism. Industry, agriculture, mining, manufacturing and education have managed to claw themselves back from the collapse after the end of Soviet subsidies, and some are now in better shape than they were previously during the 1990s. Health care has not. While it is much improved from when it bottomed out during the troublesome days of the mid-1990s, largely as a result of…

Analysis

Medically necessary: Tracking progress and developing a model fit for domestic needs
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As it stands now, choice is very limited for people seeking international-level medical care in Mongolia. The SOS Medica Clinic while extremely modern is small and not designed to keep patients for more than a few days. Serious cases are referred to local hospitals or patients are taken out of the country. CURRENT RESOURCES: The Korean Friendship Hospital in Ulaanbaatar has foreign-educated doctors and is under the management of a top Korean teaching hospital, Severance Hospital of Yonsei…

Interview

OBG talks to Peter Morrow, Chairman, American University of Mongolia
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Interview: Peter Morrow To what extent will further privatisation help to increase educational standards? PETER MORROW: Mongolia is the world’s fastest growing economy, and that pace of expansion will likely continue over the next two decades, automatically creating a high demand for education and respective services. The need for education is already outstripping current supply, and corporations are now more demanding in terms of the required skill sets of future graduates. Increasing private…

Overview

An educated guess: Efforts continue to balance educational reforms with market needs
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Education reform and investment are vitally important for Mongolia. The country is set to come into immense wealth from mining, and it needs to spend that money wisely so that the people have the skills, expertise and knowledge to make a living from the industry now and make a living after the minerals are depleted. It must make a few very long-term commitments to guarantee its future beyond the coming resources boom, and education is one of them. Education is also important so Mongolia develops…

Analysis

This year’s model: Plans to boost internationally accredited, bilingual learning
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The Mongolian education system has been in search of a suitable model for many years. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the country has tested a number of replacements for the top-down, ideologically based schooling that had been dominant for 60 years. At first, it reintroduced the traditional Mongolian script. It then experimented with the Chinese and Japanese ways of teaching. By 2011, the American and British systems came into vogue, specifically the Cambridge system, according to Mongolian…