OSCE Academy Management Reports to the Permanent Council and to the Board of Trustees

Between the 20 and the 24 October 2025, the Director and the Deputy Director of the OSCE Academy, Dr. Pal Dunay and Dr. Shairbek Dzhuraev stayed in Vienna. The Academy reported to the OSCE Permanent Council (PC) on the 23 October, and to the Board of Trustees (BoT) meeting on the 24 October. During the visit they met several OSCE delegations, in most cases accompanying the Head of the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek (POiB), Ambassador Dr. Volker Frobarth, who was unanimously elected as Chairman of the Board of the Trustees of the OSCE Academy at the BoT meeting.

Dr. Dunay and Dr. Dzhuraev met the head of the OSCE delegations of Finland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Switzerland, and ranking diplomats from Japan, Norway, and the United States. Informal meetings took place on the side of other programmes with several delegations. The bilateral meetings addressed ways the respective states can contribute to the continuation of the Academy’s programmes ranging from support with ExB funding to other ways to help, e.g. internship placements, and support with sending students to the Academy, including the MA programmes of the OSCE Academy in national scholarship programmes. It also gave an opportunity to the management of the Academy to thank many participating states for their unceasing support. The meeting with the Kyrgyz Ambassador, H.E. Mrs. Nurzhana Shaildabekova addressed a broad range of pending issues with due recognition of the essential support of the Kyrgyz authorities, particularly on high levels of politics and the national administration.

Dr. Dunay presented the report of the OSCE Academy for the last 17 months when the previous reporting took place in May 2024. (The presentation can be accessed HERE.) 16 delegations took the floor in the ensuing debate. The overwhelming majority of delegates gave recognition to the achievements of the OSCE Academy in consolidating its work internally, reducing costs, somewhat reducing the size of its staff, while stabilizing the functioning of the work at the Academy.

At the BoT meeting in addition to the above, the focus was on the results of consolidation. Italy joined the board with unanimous support. Italy’s contribution is not only important as a donor but also as a participating state whose universities from Siena to Trento and Venice cooperate on the intellectual content of the Academy. The atmosphere reflected moderate optimism and recognition to the Academy for overcoming some long-standing difficulties in its work. (Please see the slides of the BoT presentation HERE.) The document presented at the meeting on Financial Outlook and Funding Plan for 2025-2026 prepared by the Academy in close collaboration with the POiB contributed to the founded optimism. The BoT decided on “phasing out” of its BA in Economics programme. The three cohorts will graduate in 2026, 2027, and 2028, respectively but no new cohorts will be admitted in the years to come.

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