Emma Sabzalieva

Mapping change in former Soviet higher education systems

Posted on April 19, 2018 Updated on April 18, 2018

Emma_presenting_mapping-change_Mar2018_CIES — Me in action presenting at the Comparative and International Education Society’s 2018 conference in Mexico City. My ‘presenter hands’ are marginally more controlled than usual!

I recently presented at the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) Annual Conference and this blog post is about my presentation called Mapping change in former Soviet higher education systems: A view from the Russophone space.

I also presented with my colleague Hayfa Jafar on our new joint research on how faculty in post-conflict societies are experiencing internationalization in higher education – watch out for more on this to follow in the future.

As part of my PhD thesis on how higher education in the former Soviet space has responded to the fall of the Soviet Union, I want to include some analysis of how academics who have published about this regional space and time have conceptualized change.

In planning that analysis, I noticed that we know a lot about how authors writing in English conceptualize change in the former Soviet space – whether we like it or not, English is the dominant language of academic publication and there are quantitatively more articles and books available in English.

Yet my research is about a space where Russian has been the dominant language of the academic community. So this led me to wonder: do authors writing in Russian and publishing in Russian academic journals think about and write about change in similar or different ways? And how much do we know about this in the English language space?

(Spoiler alert. The brief answers are a) that there are both important similarities and marked differences, and b) not very much at all)

That explains the context to the analysis I then undertook of 23 articles written in Russian published in Russian language peer-reviewed journals published since 1991 (a list of the articles and journals can be found in my presentation). All the authors write about Russian higher education and were based at Russian institutions at the time of writing.

There are many possible ways to present what I found in this analysis (and I thank my supervisor and his research group for their feedback as I went through this process) but I decided to summarize my findings using a chronological but non-linear map. You can see it in the background of the photo above, and in full below.

The purpose of the map, which is designed like a Venn diagram, was not only to highlight some of the key themes that emerged from my analysis, but to show how these themes changed or overlapped over time.

The three phases shown are based on a framework adapted from Semyonov and Platonova’s work on policy change in higher education in Russia since 1991. They explain the three phases as:

Laissez-faire, from 1991 to around 2003. Although there were legislative changes, on the whole this period is considered to be one less government intervention in higher education, not least because of widespread economic crisis;
A period of major reform, from around 2004 to 2011. State investment in higher education led to the introduction of the Bologna Process and a unified higher education entrance exam, plus reforms to create merged and enlarged ‘super-institutions’ – the federal universities, plus the new designation of national research university;
Since 2012, a period epitomized by reforms aiming to improve the effectiveness of higher education through e.g. performance evaluations, competitive funding schemes, and more mergers/new institutional types emerging.

My analysis showed broad convergence with Semyonov and Platonova’s findings with several notable differences. I discussed four of these in my presentation. Here’s a very brief summary:

Whereas for the state, the first period might have been laissez-faire, for the people living in Russia and working in the higher education system, their response was more connected to a discourse of crisis and survival.
A number of articles in the first two time periods talked about how change wasn’t happening, and in fact there was more continuity with the Soviet system. Higher education is shown in many articles as being on the sidelines of the social change happening around it.
In the crossover between the two later periods, I noted that some of the articles observed contradictions in the reform process, particularly in relation to the introduction of the Bologna Process
Across all three phases, there is a lot of discussion about faculty: what is their role, how should they and are they responding to change, and so on. It wasn’t surprising to find more coverage of faculty matters in the Russian articles as most are written by practising academics who are or have been in some way involved in what’s been happening in Russian higher education.

This analysis will eventually form part of my PhD thesis so I don’t have a standalone paper to share. However, if you’re interested in finding out more, I’ve uploaded my presentation to Research Gate – although do note that my presentations are highly visual, so there are not many words to read! The presentation also has a few bonus slides that I didn’t share during the conference. Also, please do leave comments after this post if there are things you’d like to say in response.

This entry was posted in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and tagged change, CIES, Dariya Platonova, Dmitry Semyonov, education reform, Former Soviet Union, government policy, higher education reform, post-Soviet higher education, public policy, Russia, social change.

Selecting university leaders in Kazakhstan

Posted on April 4, 2018 Updated on March 27, 2018

choices — How would a cat choose a university leader?

Ever wondered how university leaders get chosen?

And specifically, how this process works in Kazakhstan?

I thought so.

A recent article on Kazakh website BNews offers a great ‘Who’s Who’ at the top echelons of Kazakhstan’s higher education system in its report on the competition for the top spot at three of the country’s public universities [ru].

Who’s who in Kazakh higher education?

The report lists the names, qualifications and current positions of no fewer than 42 would-be university leaders (called Rectors in Kazakhstan), all competing for one of the three posts available.

The data was released by the Ministry of Education, which will now pass the candidates’ proposed development programmes to the university in question for a committee to review.

Those who are recommended by the committees will be interviewed by a state-wide committee, made up of representatives of the Kazakhstan Association of Higher Education Institutions, higher education trade unions, elected members of the two houses of parliament, ‘eminent academics’, representatives of the business community and ‘other social actors’. A vote taken by the committee will determine the eventual nominee.

Whilst introduced relatively recently, this selection process has already been used to appoint 16 other Rectors at public universities.

The fact that this process is publicly shared (and the article on BNEws has been ‘liked’ a whopping 22,0000 times on Facebook) and the names of the candidates made available to anyone who might be interested is very impressive. It suggests that notions of democracy are embedding into the Kazakh higher education system and in government more generally, which still faces significant challenges arising from the Soviet legacy and persistent corruption even at the highest levels.

Modelling selection processes

This is not the first process that Kazakhstan has used to select public university leaders. I’ve identified three models that have been in operation at varying points over the last 30 years:

Soviet period: State
Early years of independence: Academic community
Current period: State-society

As a highly bureaucratized and centralized system, it is unsurprising that the Soviet model can be defined by the dominance of the state. During the Soviet Union, university leaders were civil servants, appointed and removed by Moscow. This system has persisted in some post-Soviet systems such as Tajikistan.

On becoming an independent state in 1991, higher education in Kazakhstan experienced a great deal of immediate change. One such reform was to allow the academic community to elect university leaders. Whilst this second model was short-lived, it has left an important footprint in how the Kazakh academic community positions itself and is positioned by the state and society.

This brings us to the current model as outlined above. I’d conceptualize this as a ‘state-society’ model, something of a hybrid between the Soviet period and that of the academic-led era of the early 1990s. The state has staked out its interest in the selection process (after all, these are public universities that are funded primarily by the state) but is making efforts to open this process out to other actors with a vested interest in higher education.

What do you think?

I’d love to hear from people based at universities in Kazakhstan to learn more about how the leadership selection process is perceived, and how democratic you think it really is.

And what about the three models I’ve proposed? Do these make sense? What have I missed?

Finally – what about the voice of students, many of whom now make a financial contribution to their higher education? To what extent are they represented in the three models?

This entry was posted in Kazakhstan and tagged democracy, democratic development, higher education administration, Kazakhstan, leadership, Rector, university leaders, university management.

Free book! Research, Ethics and Risk in the Authoritarian Field

Posted on March 23, 2018 Updated on March 22, 2018

Tweak on a book — Guest cat on the blog… Say hello to Tweak, who may (or may not) be reading Research, Ethics and Risk in the Authoritarian Field

I’m delighted to recommend a new book by Dr Adele del Sordi and colleagues at the University of Amsterdam called Research, Ethics and Risk in the Authoritarian Field.

This is a much needed book – indeed, the first of its kind – to support researchers exploring a range of issues in the field in authoritarian settings.

Dr Del Sordi has experience doing research in Kazakhstan, which adds a welcome Central Asian flavour to much of the book’s content.

The book achieves two equally useful tasks, being divided into sections that enable the authors to reflect on their individual experiences as well as offering advice and guidance to other researchers. Bear in mind that it’s mainly written from the perspective of ‘western’ researchers, although I think the authors do a good job of making clear the limits and scope involved in an endeavour such as this one. I liked this nugget, for example:

…as western researchers we may too easily read authoritarianism into such requirements, and forget the often draconian procedures of our own authorities vis-à-vis non-residents (p.22)

The book is carefully referenced, offering a number of extra readings that bring together reports (such as the Central Eurasian Studies Society‘s widely read Taskforce on Field Safety, 2016) and the limited number of academic reflections on these issues.

A neat addition to the book – which, by the way, you can download for free are a series of cartoons illustrating some of the issues raised in the book. That is a really cool touch! You can find the cartoons on the authors’ institutional website.

Here’s the official blurb:

This Open Access book offers a synthetic reflection on the authors’ fieldwork experiences in seven countries within the framework of ‘Authoritarianism in a Global Age’, a major comparative research project. It responds to the demand for increased attention to methodological rigor and transparency in qualitative research, and seeks to advance and practically support field research in authoritarian contexts. Without reducing the conundrums of authoritarian field research to a simple how-to guide, the book systematically reflects and reports on the authors’ combined experiences in (i) getting access to the field, (ii) assessing risk, (iii) navigating ‘red lines’, (iv) building relations with local collaborators and respondents, (v) handling the psychological pressures on field researchers, and (vi) balancing transparency and prudence in publishing research. It offers unique insights into this particularly challenging area of field research, makes explicit how the authors handled methodological challenges and ethical dilemmas, and offers recommendations where appropriate.

So there you have it. Download and enjoy!

This entry was posted in New Central Asia research and tagged Adele del Sordi, authoritarianism, book, ethics, fieldwork, free ebook, Kazakhstan, research, risk.

A Multinational University in Central Asia

Posted on March 5, 2018 Updated on March 5, 2018

I’m sharing a post I wrote for the Centre for Canadian & International Higher Education‘s blog about the University of Central Asia. The post was published today at https://ciheblog.wordpress.com/2018/03/05/a-multinational-university-in-central-asia/ and is also copied below:

A Multinational University in Central Asia

It’s the early 1990s and 15 new countries have emerged from the colossal historical moment that was the fall of the Soviet Union. Some of these new countries have never experienced statehood with their current set of borders before – including the five Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

With the collapse of a huge unified political and economic system, questions of nationhood and national culture exist alongside a great number of urgent problems for these new countries. Unemployment is growing – as much as 30% in some countries – and as many as 40-70% of the population are falling below the poverty line. How can the new national governments create economic opportunities when jobs have vanished overnight?

And yet at the same time, the new nation states inherited a legacy of well-developed social infrastructure that was particularly strong in healthcare and education. In Central Asia, for example, the first universities and Academies of Science (research institutes) were created during the Soviet era. Whilst the region has an incredibly rich heritage of learning and discovery stretching back more than a millennium, the 20^th century saw the founding of the first formal institutions of higher education here.

It is into this context of economic crisis but highly developed education and social institutions that the University of Central Asia (UCA), a new institution equally based in the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in Central Asia, came into being. And it was UCA’s story that the university’s Chancellor Dr Shamsh Kassim-Lakha came to share with a large audience a joint CIHE/Munk School seminar held at OISE on March 2, 2018.

The story of the University of Central Asia

From 1995, agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), a major international secular private foundation with a presence in 30 countries worldwide, began working with the Central Asian governments. At their request, agencies of the AKDN began to provide food assistance, education, and financial services. As the 1990s progressed and the economic situation stabilized across the region, education rose up the agenda as a priority area. A successful Humanities Project, initiated in Tajikistan in 1997 under the auspices of AKDN funding (and still running today), showed that innovation in higher education could work.

In 2000, the UCA was created. It is believed to be the only regional university in the world to be founded by international charter signed by the three host countries; the charter has since been lodged with the United Nations. It joins a tiny number of other regional universities such as the University of West Indies and the University of the South Pacific.

Screen Shot 2018-03-03 at 10.23.38 AM

A key aim of the UCA is to “create job creators, not job seekers”, according to Dr Kassim-Lakha. UCA is striving to fulfil this mission in a number of ways:

Providing very low cost continuing education across a widely disbursed area, including in neighbouring Afghanistan. Courses are vocationally oriented, covering subjects such as Business English, Accounting, and Car Mechanics;
Undergraduate education with two majors at each of the three UCA campuses. Two campuses – in Naryn, Kyrgyzstan and Khorog, Tajikistan – are operational; the Kazakh campus in Tekeli is expected to open within the next five years. Right now, there are just under 200 students and at capacity, UCA hopes to host 1,200 students on each campus. Graduate education will follow in the future;
Research in areas of relevance to the mountain societies that host UCA. The Mountain Societies Research Institute and Institute for Public Policy and Administration are already producing some interesting outputs;

Across all its activities, UCA is striving to engage the communities and countries around it. This ranges from a new Mountain University Partnershiplinking up UCA to existing higher education institutions in the towns it is operating in to substantial financial support for the majority of its undergraduate students.

The cost of creating a new university

Even though tuition fees are minimal compared to other higher education systems – US$5,000 plus $3,000 for accommodation and living costs – this is well beyond the means of most prospective students. Huge financial subsidies mean that most students are only paying a fraction of the true cost of their education, which Dr Kassim-Lakha put at $28,000.

Screen Shot 2018-03-03 at 10.23.24 AM A huge amount of money has been put into the UCA initiative. There’s the financial subsidies for students, the cost of construction – the campuses have each cost nearly $100m to build – before you start to account for ongoing running costs.

Some of that cost has been met by generosity from Canada. To date, around C$20m of funding has been channeled from Canadian government agencies and non-governmental organizations into the creation of UCA, and Dr Kassim-Lakha expressed the university’s deep gratitude towards the Canadian people for this support. As well as direct funding, there are already concrete partnerships in place with the University of Toronto, Seneca College, University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria, each supporting UCA to develop a specific area of its curriculum.

Nevertheless, and perhaps understandably, working out how the university will be financially sustainable in the future is the issue Dr Kassim-Lakha said that keeps him up at night.

In the very specific former Soviet context it is based in, there are also potential challenges arising from an autonomous university attempting to set its own future direction within national higher education frameworks that remain heavily state-centric and bureaucratized.

And actively choosing to build a tri-campus university in small and remote mountain towns, as UCA has done, adds another dimension to the challenge. The guiding rationale for doing so – to reduce political, social and economic isolation – means that the university and other AKDN agencies are not just building a university, but a whole framework around it: from providing continuing education courses to qualify local people to work on the building sites to creating physical infrastructure such as building roads and pipelines.

UCA is an incredibly ambitious and exciting new endeavour. If the quality of its graduating students – the first of whom will reach the workplace in 2021 – come anywhere near matching the quality of financial investment and effort placed into creating UCA, then the results could be transformative for the mountain societies and the countries they are located in.

This entry was posted in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and tagged Aga Khan Development Network, AKDN, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, mountain societies, mountains, new university, regional cooperation, Tajikistan, UCA, universities, University of Central Asia.

Seminar // March 5, 2018 // Comparing internationalization in higher education in Tajikistan and Iraq, plus other papers

Posted on February 26, 2018 Updated on February 26, 2018

I’m delighted to invite you to a seminar I have organized being held on Monday March 5, 2018 from 11.30am-1pm in Toronto and also livestreamed online.

The seminar showcases some of the student research on internationalization in higher education being done at my faculty, OISE, that will be presented at the prestigious Comparative & International Education Society Annual Conference in late March.

It’s an opportunity for us to give our presentations a trial run and get your feedback, and for you to learn about our research without travelling all the way to Mexico City where the conference is being held!

There will be four presentations, each lasting 15 minutes, with a question and answer session at the end moderated by OISE faculty member Dr Elizabeth Buckner.

I will be giving a presentation with Hayfa Jafar on our brand new study Iraq and Tajikistan, two countries where dramatic political, social and economic changes have taken place over the last 30 years. As these two states recover from the impact of conflict and international isolation, spaces are being created for higher education to open up and (re)connect with the international academic community. In our study, we look closely at internationalization of higher education as a symbol of change by examining and comparing the experiences of academics in both countries.

The other presentations, detailed in the poster below, take us on a global journey through the liberal arts curriculum in China’s Christian universities, the intersection of regionalization with internationalization in Chile and Brazil, and the experiences of leaders of internationalization in Ontario universities.

It promises to be a fascinating session and I hope you can join us. If you are in Toronto, the seminar is in room 7-105 at OISE (address in the poster below). If you would like to join us online, go to https://classroom.oise.utoronto.ca/cidec (enter as a Guest).

Test your connection ahead of time at https://admin.adobeconnect.com/common/help/en/support/meeting _test.htm

cihe-cide-joint-seminar-mar-5-2018

cihe-cide-joint-seminar-mar-5-2018-p2

This entry was posted in Tajikistan and tagged Brazil, Chile, China, conflict, institutional change, internationalization, Iraq, liberal arts, OISE, Ontario, post-conflict, regionalization, Seminar, Tajikistan, Toronto, university leaders, University of Toronto.

In Their Own Words: Scholarship Stories from Tajikistan (repost)

Posted on February 23, 2018 Updated on February 22, 2018

Below is a very nice story posted on the Central Asia Institute website offering motivation and inspiration from a number of scholarship students from Tajikistan. Thanks to Michelle O’Brien for alerting me to this story.

In Their Own Words: Scholarship Stories from Tajikistan

February 20th, 2018

In Tajikistan, poverty is one of the largest barriers to higher education. All too often promising students must end their academic dreams early, or their families take out loans they can never pay back.

With help from donors, CAI’s partner in Tajikistan (CAIT) gives scholarships to students based on need and merit, ensuring poverty does not derail the dreams and careers of some of the country’s best and brightest students. Each applicant must submit their school grades and their family’s income information, complete an interview, and submit recommendations from village elders and teachers.

Most of the students receive scholarships to Khorog State University, where they study a variety of subjects from foreign languages, education, to history and economics. The students are grateful to receive scholarships that will not only help them achieve their dreams but also help care for their families.

We received several messages from students who wanted to tell their stories and send messages of thanks to CAI donors and supporters. We decided to let them tell those stories to you, in their own voices, for you. Keep reading to hear their incredible spirits as they tell you how they have conquered poverty, illness, and hardships to earn their scholarships and make it to university.

Jumakhonov Shasufbek – Studying Economics at Khorog State University

Life is so difficult and has its wave, sometimes you can see the wave and sometimes it disappears. Life has its paths and one has to find the right one. And you can find the right way only through learning and education. Knowledge can show you the right way to choose.

Since my childhood, I have been enjoying reading and writing. I always learned new things from my grandfather who brought us up. As far as I remember I was thirsty of knowledge and always sought for new things. We (I and my two brothers) were living with our grandparents as our parents had to leave to Russia [to earn money]. We had everything besides parents’ love and care.

I am the eldest child in my family. When I was on grade 11 my parents came back from Russia because the condition of life in Russia became difficult for the migrants, and it was hard for my parents to work there. After graduation from secondary school I was succeeded to enter Khorog State University, Economy faculty (department). I was proud of becoming a student of this university, but from the other side, the tuition fee made me sad. As my family could not afford the tuition fee, they decided that I should not study this year because the only income of our family was my grandparents’ pension. But as the saying says, “Hope never dies.”

Once I was reading the local newspaper and by chance saw an advertisement of CAIT regarding scholarship for the needy students from remote areas. Something inside told me that “this is your chance.” So according to the advertisement, I have started to gather the necessary documents and in a short period submitted them all to the office of CAIT in Khorog town. When after a month I had a call from CAIT regarding my acceptance to the scholarship, I was on the top of happiness. And that time I felt myself the luckiest person in the world. And also my grandparents and parents were so happy for me I saw the happiness in their eyes.

Taking the chance I would like to thank CAIT and its staff on behalf of myself and my family for giving me such a great chance to continue my study. In my turn, I promise to be the best student of the university and seek for knowledge.

support scholarships

Nekbakht Khujanazarova – Studying History at Khorog State University

I am Nekbakht Khujanazarova. I am from Roshorv village of Bartang Valley. Roshorv is one of the beautiful places of Bartang Valley. It has many historical places that attract the tourist to our valley. I was living in this beautiful village with my parents, my three sisters, my little brother, and my grandparents.

During our childhood, my grandfather told us different stories from his life and the difficulties they had to go through. We listened to him carefully. After his death, I told my siblings stories and helped my mother. My mother is a housekeeper, and my father is unemployed. He usually is busy with the small piece of land that we have. Usually in our village men are working in the fields, because there is no other kind of work. Although, this kind of work is not regular and one cannot earn enough money for life with this kind of work.

The stories of my grandfather inspired me for applying to the Khorog State University faculty (department) of History. When I entered to the university I was happy and proud, but I knew that my parent can never afford my tuition fee. I even did not know what to do. Fortunately, on TV my neighbor heard about CAIT scholarship for the students from low-income families and told me about it. She told me to apply, I have gathered my documents and submitted them to their office but I was not sure to be accepted by this organization. But I succeeded and now I know that the world is full of kind people who would like to help others. Thank you for your support.

Nazrishoev Aslisho – Studying Economics at Khorog State University

My name is Aslisho. I am from Porshinev village of Shugnan District. I got my early education at school #14 named after Khusravsho Musrifshoev. In 2015 I entered Khorog State University, Economy faculty (department). Currently, I am a third-year student at Khorog State University. There are five people in my family, my parents, my two brothers, and me.

My father is a builder. He is a part-time employee. He is the only worker in our family, whose salary is not enough to support us. My little brother is six years old. My elder brother is a third-year student of medical college of Khorog town. It is really very difficult for one person to support five family members and pay the tuition fees of the students. We have taken loan and my father is still paying it back. I was trying to find any job and support my father but unfortunately, without diploma no one gave me a job. Thanks to the support of CAIT I can continue my study and inshallah (god willing) after graduation of the university will help my brothers to get education too.

Tajikistan learning

Sarqulieva Amriya – Studying Foreign Language at Khorog State University

My name is Sarqulieva Amriya. I was born in 1998 in Razuj village of Bartang Valley. I come from a poor family. I grew up in a small house with my dad, mom, two sisters, and my two brothers. I am the eldest child in my family and my parents expect me to be more responsible and set a good example for my younger siblings. My parents expect me to study hard so that I could have a good job and provide income so that my younger siblings can go to a better university in the near future.

My father is a shepherd. My mother is a housewife. So it is difficult for them to support us. From my childhood I am trying to help my parents somehow. I learned how to knit scarf, jumpers, and gloves from my mother and sent them to the market for selling. With the money, which I earned, my mother bought food for us. After finishing school I decided to enter the Khorog State University faculty (department) of foreign languages, but my father and mother were against because of our financial problems.

There were several reasons of learning foreign language for me. First is that I always enjoyed studying books in Russian language. It gave me pleasure to learn something new, to get information in any field, and I believed that education broadens the mind. Secondly, I decided to be a Russian teacher from my childhood. I was insisting on passing the exams for the university, but I was worried about tuition fee. Also, the university is in Khorog town and I knew that I will need a place to live in. I convinced my parents and was succeed to become a student of Khorog State University. My father borrowed money from our neighbors and relatives and paid for my first-year tuition fee. The first year at the university was the horrible year in my life. Also it was too difficult for me to live in Khorog with 6 strange girls in the dormitory. Moreover, my father could not give back the money borrowed for my first-year tuition fee and asked me to leave my university and help him to pay back the money.

I had to leave my university and went back home. Although I knew that it was the end and impossible I was dreaming of going back to Khorog and continue my study. In addition to all these problems my sister fell ill. I did not know what to do, we had no money even for medical checkup. That was the time in my life when I felt like a victim of circumstances. This was a horrible feeling when I felt powerless. With the help of some kind people we bought medicine for my sister. When I was taking care of my sister at home my teacher visited us and said that I should continue my study. But I just said, “how?” With a smile on his face he took a newspaper from his armpit and gave it to me. When I saw the advertisement about scholarship I was so excited but then I gave it back to the teacher and said: “it does not mean that they will give me scholarship, there are a lot of poor people in the world”. But my teacher wanted me to try. “Just try,” he said. With diffidence I have gathered my documents and send them to CAIT office.

When I had a call from CAIT office I kissed and hugged everyone in my family like a drunken person. Thanks to CAIT I can fulfill my dream and also will help my other siblings to get higher education. This amazing organization gave me hope again, and now I know that after every night there will be day.

These are just a few of the stories of students who would not be able to study without a scholarship. Thanks to thousands of CAI donors all over the world, their stories are not finished. If you want to learn more about supporting CAI scholarships, visit our page.

This entry was posted in Tajikistan and tagged Central Asia, Central Asia Institute, education funding, Higher education, khorog, Khorog State University, scholarships, Tajikistan, universities, university funding.

Seminar // March 2, 2018 // Toronto // Education at the roof of the world: The story of the University of Central Asia

Posted on February 19, 2018 Updated on February 26, 2018

If you’re in Toronto on Friday March 2 between 11am-12.30pm, please consider coming to a seminar organized by my department and the Munk School of Global Affairs in which Dr Shamsh Kassim-Lakha, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the University of Central Asia, will talk about this innovative, new, multi-country university.

Details in the poster below and at https://ciheblog.wordpress.com/cihe-speaker-series/dr-shamsh-kassim-lakha-march-2-2018/.

Please note the change of venue: due to an expected high turnout, the seminar will now be held in the Library at OISE.

This entry was posted in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and tagged education change, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, mountain societies, mountains, Munk School, OISE, Pamir, roof of the world, social change, Tajikistan, UCA, University of Central Asia.