My new article, Surviving a Crisis: Transformation, Adaptation, and Resistance in Higher Education, is now out. The article is open access and the online first version is available to download at https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/hegp/issue/69503/1054946. This is the first article to be published from my PhD research and it also builds on the webinar I gave at the …
Category: Kazakhstan
Next Generation: Reflections and perspectives on higher education in the former Soviet Union [free online conference, 14 & 15 Feb]
The conference image. Source: Pixabay I warmly invite you to join a free online conference I am organizing at UNESCO together with HSE University (Russia) on 14 and 15 February. All welcome with registration required (links below). Please share the information widely. Date: Monday 14 February 2022 and Tuesday 15 February 2022 Time: 09:00 – …
Kazakhstan: Higher education on hold at home, students stranded abroad
Protests in Kazakhstan have put higher education in the country on hold and the start of term postponed, while many students remain stranded abroad. My Kazakhstan-based colleague Dana Abdrasheva and I wrote about the latest situation and the implications for higher education for University World News. Here's a reprint of the article that was published on …
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Kazakhstan, Russia, and the international students caught in between
Kazakhstan is in the world's headlines after a series of protests that started over energy price hikes rapidly escalated and continue to unfold at the time of writing this on 7 January 2022. The involvement of Russia into the situation in Kazakhstan just a couple of days into events has set off alarm bells and …
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The next ten years in Central Asian higher education: Looking to the future after a decade of blogging
I've spent many a happy hour enjoying the challenge of finding a vaguely suitable cat meme to go with many of my blog posts Somehow, the tenth anniversary of this blog has rolled around. From my very first post published on 30 September 2011, I've published 345 posts, averaging around three posts a month. In …
International students can return to Russia
International students are ready to fly back to Russia - if they can afford the price of the ticket After partially reopening its borders to international students in March 2021, the Russian government announced in September that all international students can return - or come for the first time - to study in the country. …
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Vaccinated students rewarded with tuition discounts, free courses and more
Would you prefer Miaow-derna or Pfiz-purr? Students in Kazakhstan are being incentivized to get their Covid vaccines. Vaccinated students will be able to get discounts on their tuition fees, priority for student housing, transport vouchers, and - the ultimate student incentive - free food. At some universities, students can also get free access to a …
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Creating a Central Asian Higher Education Area
Big and exciting news in the world of higher education in Central Asia: a Central Asian Higher Education Area is finally on the cards. Five cats cuddled together... Five Central Asian countries agreeing to a partnership... OK, OK, it's pure feline clickbait. Sorry not sorry. The plans have been formalized and signed by the five …
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National approaches to university rankings in Central Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and Latin America (new open access book chapter)
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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Emma Sabzalieva 