DUSHANBE, October 2, 2013, Asia-Plus -- The second and final meeting of the Steering Committee of the European Union funded project, The Support to the Efficient and Effective Functioning of the Tajik Financial Institute (SEFTFI), took place at the Ministry of Finance of Tajikistan on October 1, according to press release issued by the Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Tajikistan.

The members of the Committee were informed of the results, outputs and outcomes of the project and the impact it has had on the functioning of the Institute.

The Economic and Financial Institute of Tajikistan (FEIT) is a leading higher education institution in Tajikistan operating under the auspices of the Ministry of Finance that has resulted from the merger of two institutions – the Tajik Financial Institute and the Economics Institute in May 2012.  The Institute through its predecessors has been preparing well-recognized specialists for more than 45 years, strongly supporting the economic growth and development of Tajikistan.  Many former graduates have occupied senior positions in government and business in Tajikistan and other neighboring countries.

The Project (implemented by Hulla and Co. Human Dynamics) has assisted the Institute in a complete overhaul of its organization, its curriculum, and jointly developing new programs and courses to meet the demands regarding education in public finance of a modern society.  The Institute has now a clearly spelled vision and mission, modern operational policies and procedures, and through several visits to similar educational institutions in Georgia, Kirgizstan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom the Institute has established international links leading to possibly international scientific integration.  The Project organized international conferences in public finance and developed a course in modern Public Financial Management, with all the supporting didactic materials, which has been offered to the final year students for the first time in the autumn this year.

Moreover, the information and computer technology infrastructure of the Institute has been substantially improved and the Institute has now an attractive website: http://www.tfei.info/ . All together this enables the Institute to offer first class education to its students, delivering its motto – LEARNING, IMAGINATION, UNDERSTANDING, PROGRESS!

The Project will end this December but it will be continued in summer 2014 for three years (as part of the larger EU “PFM Reform Support Programme” of 8 million Euro over 2014-2016) given that the Ministry of Finance and the Rector and management of the Institute are willing to strengthen the started reforms leading to higher qualified staff in the Institute and thus higher quality education and better qualified students.