Updated Dec 2020: You can now watch a video of the seminar.

I’m giving a seminar on October 1 (9am Eastern, 2pm UK, 6pm Dushanbe) about my recently completed doctoral work and would love to see you there. It’s being hosted by the Centre for Global Higher Education, an international research centre with hubs at the University of Oxford and University College London.

Here’s the description:

After periods of major political and economic change, it has been assumed that social institutions like higher education also change radically – and perhaps even fail. In contrast to this expectation, this study shows that such moments of intense disruption result not only in transformation but are additionally accompanied by significant levels of adaptation and resilience.

Based on the presenter’s recently completed doctoral study of the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, this presentation outlines some of the ways that higher education responds to major change at both system and organizational levels. It draws from a comparative case study of three ex-Soviet countries with new primary source data generated by interviews with experienced faculty members at the frontline of change. Understanding what it takes for higher education to survive a crisis makes an important contribution to comparative higher education studies and to filling the gap in theory-driven explanations of system and organizational responses to major change.

Registration for the seminar is free and is required to obtain the Zoom link. Click here to register.

As well as talking about what I learned during my PhD, I’ll also make some connections between the aftermath of the fall of the Soviet Union and what might happen in higher education in the current period of socio-political turbulence. There’ll be time at the end for discussion and I am really looking forward to hearing your questions and comments!

If you can’t make it on the day, the seminar will be recorded and posted on the Centre’s website. I’ll also put a link on this site. And you can always use the comment function to post your question here if you don’t have a chance to ask.