Hello, and welcome to my blog! 

All the advice I’ve read about starting a blog says you should focus on one area you’re particularly interested in. Well, I’ve got a lot of quite different interests so I’ve chosen to focus on two areas, which do sometimes overlap:

1. Central Asia and the post-Soviet world

One of the categories I’ve created for this blog is ‘bureaucratic madness’, which should give you a flavour of the way I see a lot of the post-Soviet world. Having personally experienced plenty of volokita (Russian for ‘red tape’) over the years, I now enjoy admiring the craziness from the comparatively genteel bureaucracy of the UK, where I currently live.

As well as observing inane laws and practices, I have a more serious interest in the development of the post-Soviet space, particularly in Central Asia, so I’ll plan to report on more sobering news and stories too. 

2. Higher education

I’ve worked in this field for over a decade and completed an MBA in Higher Education Management in 2011, so it’s perhaps unsurprising that I take a keen interest in policy and developments in higher education.

I plan to post stories and comments on the things that get me most excited/worked up. I expect that this will be mainly UK-based but I also follow international systems, particularly in developing countries.

My main geographic focus internationally is, yes, you guessed it, Central Asian higher education. There is almost nothing written about this field so one of my aims in life (with my academic hat on) is to research this area and get more people around the world thinking about it.

I’ve already got a few stories to post about, so I’ll end the intro post here and move on. Enjoy the blog and do please let me know if you have suggestions or ideas for future posts or themes.

Emma