My research explores how and why education policy changes across contexts and the implications of policy change and reform.
Focussing on higher education policy, I research the intersections between the policy process and lived experiences and the actors who are leading policy change. I study the role of different actors involved in policy processes across the world to understand how educational change is initiated and led. Cutting across my research is a commitment to increasing equity by examining the historic barriers and current challenges to inclusion in higher education.
By working with a range of actors in education and policy, I am not only able to better understand change, but can also explore how power relations shape how policy change happens in education. This also supports my aspiration to improve theorizing on education policy by drawing from different qualitative and critical lenses and by developing new conceptual frameworks. My work is usually comparative and international, and I have regional specializations in Central Asia, Canada, Europe, and Latin America.
I have published widely in peer-reviewed journals and books and also write for a more general audience. Recordings of my seminars/podcasts are also available.
Currently, my research falls into four broad areas: the new geopolitics of higher education, higher education policy and reform in Central Asia, equitable international academic relations, and the right to higher education.
The new geopolitics of higher education
Geopolitical shifts during the late twentieth century triggered waves of remarkable growth in the scale and scope of international cooperation in higher education and science. As the twenty-first century progresses, a new series of geopolitical shifts has emerged characterized by weaknesses in global governance, growing political populism and authoritarianism, the COVID-19 crisis, and more. I term this new domain of knowledge the new geopolitics of higher education. My work with Hannah Moscovitz sets outs a conceptualization of the new geopolitics of higher education, setting the scene for our co-edited special issue in top journal Globalisation, Societies and Education and for future research in this area.
Higher education policy and reform in Central Asia
My research in this area maps and examines changes in higher education policies and practices in Central Asia, sometimes extending to other parts of the former Soviet space. I am particularly interested in how governments in the region select and justify structural reforms, the impact of international higher education dynamics, and efforts towards regionalization in higher education. Through a historical lens, I also research the impact of the ongoing legacy of the Soviet era.
Equitable international academic relations
The changing world order has highlighted existing inequalities between and within higher education systems. This is particularly visible in international research collaborations and higher education internationalization policies, where the differential effects of the new geopolitics plays out with important implications for power dynamics and knowledge hierarchies between countries. I investigate the possibilities for alternative ways of internationalizing education that are more equitable and just.
The right to higher education
I am passionate about the right to higher education, which I understand not only as who has access to higher education – and how the overall education pipeline can be prevented from narrowing as students progress through education – but how to support students to persist and succeed in a holistic manner. At UNESCO, I developed a social justice framework through which to study the right to higher education as part of the evolving right to education.
Emma Harden-Wolfson 