The Educational and Methodological Council (EMC) is a collegial, coordinating and advisory body responsible for the management, formation and development of the educational, educational‑methodological and educational‑organizational activities of the institute. It operates with the broad involvement of academic staff, students, and external representatives.

The EMC works in cooperation with the Academic Council, the Educational Department, the scientific and methodological councils of the faculties, the library, the publishing structures of the institute, as well as with the relevant bodies of the M. S. Osimi Tajik Technical University and the Republican Educational and Methodological Center under the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Tajikistan.

The principles of EMC activity are equality of members, collegiality and transparency. The decisions of the EMC are advisory and recommendatory in nature and, when necessary, are approved by the director.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES AND FUNCTIONS

The main goal of the EMC is to create conditions for a competitive educational environment of the institute and, on this basis, to create opportunities for the development and implementation of standards and educational programs to achieve high‑quality education through the following tasks:

• development of educational standards and rules related to the educational‑methodological work of the institute, taking into account the requirements and standards of the Republic of Tajikistan and international norms;
• creating conditions for the opening and implementation of competitive educational programs;
• development of effective mechanisms for designing educational programs (learning outcome requirements, curricula, syllabi and other components) with the active participation of students and employers, using information technologies;
• introduction of modern forms of organization and regulatory‑methodological support for the educational process;
• implementation of mechanisms for comprehensive assessment of the quality of the content and implementation of educational programs with the involvement of all participants in the educational process;
• improvement of teaching technologies based on digitalization, and the search for new pedagogical methods and forms;
• development of modern educational, methodological and informational support for educational programs.

The main functions of the EMC include:

• defining and forming the main priority areas of educational and educational‑methodological work at the institute;
• submitting proposals for approval regarding the opening of new bachelor’s degree programs or organizing the renewal of existing programs;
• organizing the development, coordination and approval of state educational standards and curricula for bachelor’s degree programs of the institute;
• organizing the development, coordination and recommendation for approval of local (internal) regulations and provisions related to the educational‑methodological support of teaching and learning processes;
• reviewing prepared educational materials and recommending them for printed or electronic publication (including multimedia components and animated appendices to the main part of the publication);
• coordinating the work of the scientific and methodological councils of faculties on educational‑methodological issues, as well as the methodological commissions of departments;
• organizing cooperation with official student organizations of the institute in order to obtain feedback on issues related to the organization of educational and educational‑methodological work;
• organizing the development and formation of the institute’s plan for the publication of educational and methodological literature;
• regular (systematic) review and analysis of activities related to inclusive education, open (online) education, network cooperation, quality improvement, current and final certification, and other areas;
• assessing the effectiveness of the educational‑methodological work of departments and structural units of the institute;
• preparing and conducting conferences and scientific‑methodological seminars on issues of educational‑methodological work at the institute;
• performing other tasks within the established scope of EMC activity as assigned by the director of the institute.

The EMC carries out its duties and functions by planning the main issues of educational‑methodological work and reviewing them at its meetings, organizing working groups and analyzing the results of their activities, preparing recommendations and regulatory documents for the organization and improvement of teaching and learning processes for approval by the Academic Council or the director.

TEMPORARY WORKING GROUPS

The establishment of temporary working groups, with an indication of their tasks, may be included in the EMC meeting plan or, depending on necessity, discussed and organized as a current issue at the next meeting.

Temporary working groups are established by order of the director — with or without remuneration — to address EMC tasks. The task of each working group is defined directly in the order or in a separate document. If necessary, employment contracts are concluded with members of the working group from within or outside the institute.

Issues that fall within the scope of EMC responsibilities but cannot be completed within the work duties and time of staff of educational and methodological units, or within the teaching load of instructors, and which are necessary for improving the quality of teaching and learning or required by relevant authorities, are assigned to temporary working groups.

Examples of issues that may be addressed by temporary working groups include:

• development or revision of educational content and its components: graduate competencies, educational standards for a specialty, curriculum for a specialty, catalog of disciplines, sample syllabi (work programs) of disciplines, internship programs, final certification materials, etc.;
• development of methodological guidelines for the implementation of new methods of teaching, assessment and certification;
• development of methodological guidelines for creating test and examination materials to assess the mastery of competencies;
• conducting surveys and analyzing their results to evaluate the effectiveness of educational‑methodological work processes;
• conducting analytical assessments at the request of the director;
• development and/or updating of the institute’s regulatory documents (regulations, rules, procedures, etc.) related to the organization of educational‑methodological activities.