Russia to push for international acceptance of qualifications at G-8 summit

Russia will push for the international acceptance of professional qualifications at the July summit of the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations as part of its focus on education during its G-8 presidency, Education Minister Andrei Fursenko said Tuesday. "Every person, having received an education, should feel sure of himself in any country," Fursenko told a news conference.

He said G-8 education ministers meeting this week in Moscow would discuss this and three other themes: innovation, raising educational standards especially in mathematics and information technology and assisting migrants through education. Fursenko, conceded, however, that the initiative to promote universally accepted qualifications had run up against opposition. "If you speak about an engineer's qualification, there is a completely different understanding of this in South Korea , Europe , Russia , America ," he said.

"This an issue that has provoked a lot of disagreement," he said. Russia has made energy security, education and infectious diseases the main issues of its G-8 presidency, whose centerpiece will be the July summit in St. Petersburg , reports the AP.

N.U.