I'm happy to see the long-awaited publication of a book chapter on national approaches to university rankings in Central Asia, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), and Latin America in the volume Global University Rankings and the Politics of Knowledge, edited by Michelle Stack. Our chapter, co-authored with Creso Sá, Nadiia Kachynska and Magdalena Martinez, reviews …
Selling out? Kazakhstan’s KIMEP University goes fully private
Watch out, this post ends with a pun that's even worse than this one. Another blog post, another story about privatization in Kazakhstan's higher education. No stranger to privatization, Kazakhstan's universities and colleges have been on quite the rollercoaster ride in terms of ownership and funding. Most recently, I reported that the President had seemingly …
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Russia partially re-opens its borders for international students
Feline good about getting back to the library During March 2021, the Russian Ministry of Education and Science passed two orders permitting the return of international students from a total of 31 countries. This includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan (Turkmenistan is not on either list), other ex-Soviet states and a slightly random collection of …
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Teaching and Learning in Central Asia / Преподавание и обучение в Центральной Азии (Seminar, 8 April/Семинар, 8 апреля)
This upcoming Russian-language seminar from the University of Central Asia should be of great interest to all those researching and working in the area of high/secondary school teaching and learning. Recommended! Предстоящий русскоязычный семинар Университета Центральной Азии должен вызвать большой интерес у всех тех, кто занимается исследованиями и работает в области преподавания и обучения в …
Dissertation Award
Sharing good news: my PhD thesis was selected as the winner of the 2021 Comparative & International Education Society Eurasia Special Interest Group Dissertation Award!
A degree more autonomy for Kazakhstan’s universities?
Give me a degree please! You've studied hard, taken exams, written essays, done experiments, completed practicums - basically, ticked all the boxes your course requires. All that's left is to get your well earned diploma (degree certificate). For students in Kazakhstan graduating from 2021, these diplomas will no longer be state issued but rather the …
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The Oxford of Uzbekistan
A new Presidential University seeks to emulate Oxford in Uzbekistan. What are the prospects for a world-class university in the country?
Rolling back privatization in Kazakhstan’s higher education?
Cat on the road (to privatization?) Kazakhstan has energetically pursued privatization ever since emerging from the Soviet era some three decades ago. In higher education, this trend towards privatization has long been evident. Marketization has long been a feature of higher education in Kazakhstan. For example, the adoption of the 1995 law ‘On Privatization’, which …
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China and Russia’s higher education ambitions for Eurasia, and Central Asian responses (new publication)
Fortunately, our new article will not make you fall asleep For my first blog post of 2021, I'm very pleased to share a new peer-reviewed journal article. It explores China and Russia’s efforts to construct a higher education region in Eurasia and also examines the responses of policymakers in Central Asia to these initiatives. The …
Wrapping up 2020
Well. It's been quite the year. It's hard to know where or how to start what would typically be my annual recap post. There's both too much and not enough to say, whether it's on higher education in Central Asia, on the injustices and inequalities that have been brought to the forefront by Covid, on …
