Comparative and International Higher Education Policy Specialist; Focus on Central Asia
No stranger to creating new universities, Kazakhstan’s longstanding (and thus far only) president Nursultan Nazarbayev has already set up or led initiatives since founding KIMEP University in 1992. Now, building on the investment and early successes of the eponymous Nazarbayev University – which the president apparently did not ask to be named after himself – …
I try not to blindly copy and paste articles about Central Asian higher education so I’m passing on today’s link with a little bit of hesitation. The reason for this is that the article takes an uncritical approach to the subject. Whilst the article is factual and informative, it’s not controversial (in its true meaning …
Sorry for the silence since the last post (I try to post once a week) – I have been using all my spare time to complete a full draft of my Tajik study abroad paper. Given the wealth of information I received, you can imagine that it has taken some time to analyse all the …
Continue reading Nazarbayev University: the Oxford of Kazakhstan?
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 hit the pause button with an outright ban on privatization in nearly 40 of …
Continue reading Selling out? Kazakhstan’s KIMEP University goes fully private
In this week’s University’s World News, I take a look at how higher education has changed in Kazakhstan. I think there are five big stories to tell about higher education in the Nazarbayev era, and that these will shape the legacy he leaves behind in the country.
Five years after the government resolved to introduce a national university ranking, Uzbekistan’s first domestic higher education league table was announced in July 2018 [ru]. 23 indicators were used to assess state-funded universities and institutes. These covered students’ learning outcomes, curriculum quality, faculty composition, research activity and classroom and ICT resources. All 57 public higher education …
Continue reading Uzbekistan releases first university ranking
In print at last! My latest article – The policy challenges of creating a world-class university outside the global ‘core’ – which was published online in March, has finally found a home in a print edition of the journal it is published in. (There is usually a lag because publishers do their best to get online …
I’m pleased to share the publication of my latest journal article. Out online in the European Journal of Higher Education now (and in print in June), my article is called The policy challenges of creating a world-class university outside the global ‘core’ and takes a fresh look at the now commonplace idea of the world-class university. I used …
Intrigued by reforms to education in Kazakhstan, from the new trilingual education policy to greater steps towards decentralization of governance? Want to know what students at a new Kazakh university think about life on campus or the effectiveness of their institution’s strategic plan? Curious to learn more about students’ views on learning methods, from videoessays to critical thinking …
Continue reading New research from Central Asian university students
There have been a spate of stories recently about Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev that suggest a new stage in his quarter century long leadership of the nation. This stage consists of the development of a legacy that seeks to frame Nazarbayev as if being written for future history textbooks. He has already taken on the mantle of Leader of …
Emma Sabzalieva 