Since 2004 the OSCE Academy in Bishkek offers a postgraduate course in Political Science and professional training in areas relevant to the OSCE agenda in Central Asia. The Academy also conducts research and facilitates regional dialogue. The Board of Trustees of the Academy includes representatives of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre, the governments of Central Asia, Germany, Finland, Canada, and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy.

"The Academy’s obligation not only to realize the shared values and commitments of the OSCE’s 56 participating States and its partner nations, but also to attune the Academy to the specific priorities and needs of the Central Asian neighbourhood, is part of its strengths as an academic institution," said Ambassador Andrew Tesoriere, the Board’s Chairman and the Head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek.

Maxim Ryabkov, the Director of the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, said: "For the Academy this important meeting in Vienna is both an occasion for celebrating the Academy’s continuing success in providing quality higher education in the region and a time for reflection on how to respond to the changing needs of the Central Asian academic and professional communities. The OSCE Academy seeks greater recognition in Central Asia and will enhance its scholarly institutional networks globally to maintain and increase the quality of its programmes."

Created by a Memorandum of Understanding between the OSCE and the Kyrgyz Republic, the OSCE Academy recognizes education as key to successful development and the fostering of comprehensive security, and sees its programmes as integral to the emergence of qualified professionals in Central Asia to implement an agenda of positive change.