VIRGINIA, November 8, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Tajik Ambassador to the United States Abdujabbr Shirinov on November 6 met with Tajik students studying at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA).

More than 20 Tajik students are currently studying at this largest educational institution in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the number of them is increasing from year to year.

Ambassador Shirinov told Asia-Plus’s reporter that they had discussed issues related to expansion of cooperation between higher educational institutions of Tajikistan and the United States.

“To-date, a number of universities in the Montana, Colorado, Maryland and Nebraska states have actively cooperated with educational institutions of Tajikistan,” said Shirinov, “We have invited managers of NOVA to visit our country for establishment of direct contacts with the Ministry of Education of Tajikistan and Tajik universities, development of student and teacher exchange programs and implementation of joint research projects.”

Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) comprises several locations in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., and is both the second largest multi-campus community college in the United States and the largest educational institution in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Since its establishment in Alexandria in 1965, NOVA has added locations: Annandale Campus; Manassas Campus; Woodbridge Campus; Loudoun Campus in (Sterling); a Medical Education Campus (in Springfield); an extension of the Alexandria Campus in Arlington, called the Arlington Center; and an extension of the Loudoun Campus in Reston, called the Reston Center. In 2003-2004, the college enrolled 63,000 students in credit courses and some 250,000 more in non-credit offerings. The student body is economically and ethnically diverse, and a very large number of enrollees are international students or immigrants.