"We started from a desk, a chair and six books. We have come a long way," writes Provost Camilla Sharshekeeva one of the founders of American University in Kyrgyzstan (AUK). Founded in 1993 as the Kyrgyz-American Faculty at Kyrgyz State National University with forty students enrolled in two majors, AUK now is an independent educational institution with 700 students and eleven majors.

The mission of the university is education combining both innovative American and European higher education techniques and traditional core knowledge of Post-Soviet education to greatly contribute to building open society in Kyrgyzstan. Such disciplines as Journalism, Business Administration, Law and International Relations encourage students to participate actively inside and outside the classroom. The university finances numerous student clubs such as "Students In Free Enterprise" (SIFE), "Kyrgyzstan To All Needs" and "Amnesty International" that conduct various community projects including drug education, fundraising for orphanages, human rights protection and picketing of President Askar Akayev’s residence, the White House, for social change.

AUK offers a variety of programs allowing students to combine majors according to their interests. Professors and professionals of various sciences in the Civic Education Project, employ innovative teaching methods developed in the newly established "Critical Thinking" laboratory. Academic honesty and ethical behavior are the university’s unbreakable principles. Students who are accustomed to cheating in high school stop doing so as the ethical spirit of AUK affects their lives. Students and faculty are allowed to participate in university affairs through student and teacher senates. It is possible for students to change courses because of dissatisfaction with a teacher and for teachers to drop students from a course if he or she does not attend classes or breaks university rules.

Students run a campus newspaper, organize campaigns to support democratic principles, and apply to various programs and conferences. The main library and computer labs are open until ten at night. On weekends, a special bus shuttles home students who study until late at night. International faculty and students contribute to intercultural understanding. The flags of Turkey, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Iran, Canada, Poland, India, China, Russia, Korea and Pakistan hang in the main hall of AUK showing the countries of students currently in attendance, the nations AUK alumni will affect through its encouragement and development of leadership and citizen participation. American University in Kyrgyzstan is a 21st century institution. It’s alumni now work in various democracy-building organizations in Kyrgyzstan and continue their education in the USA and Europe in order to return and contribute to the betterment of Kyrgyzstan.

Anna Kirey is a Journalism student at American University of Kyrgyzstan.