Comparative and International Higher Education Policy Specialist; Focus on Central Asia
Bureaucracy lives and thrives in the higher education institutions of Central Asia. It may be more than 25 years since the Soviet Union collapsed but the volokita (red tape i.e. bureaucracy) that the USSR was so well known for remains in many social institutions of the formerly Soviet states. Universities are no exception. Opened to …
Continue reading Bureaucracy 2.0: Red tape redux in Tajikistan
The President of Tajikistan (his official title is now somewhat longer and less catchy: The Founder of Peace and National Unity, Leader of the Nation, President of the Republic of Tajikistan, His Excellency Emomali Rahmon) strikes a great pose and can be found in action all over Tajikistan. I've saved you the trouble of traipsing around …
Got a degree but don't want to use your qualification working out in the middle of nowhere without your family and earning a pittance? If you're a graduate of a Tajik university and you've had funding from the state to support your studies, the ruling of a regional court this week is that if this rural employment …
Continue reading Tajik graduates ordered to repay state scholarships
What is it about Tajik educational leaders and fashion? Not content with the controversy this caused last year (see my articles high heels for higher learning and high heels hit the headlines), the Pro-Rector of the Tajik Pedagogical University has followed in the (high-heeled?) footsteps of his Rector Abdujabbor Rahmonov by banning several female students from class yesterday... for wearing shoes without …
A scandal is bubbling between the Rector of the Tajik State Pedagogical University, Abdujabbor Rahmonov, and the only vocal national newspaper (inasmuch as it can be vocal in Tajikistan), Asia-Plus. The reason? The rector’s decision to impose a supplementary dress code on female students requiring them to wear high heeled shoes (though only up to …
Uzbekistan has bowed out of 2012 with a final "fingers up" to one of the best loved Soviet traditions, that of Father Frost (Дед Мороз or Father Christmas, reimagined for the Soviet New Year holiday) and Snow Maiden (Снегурочка - she has no European/American equivalent that I'm aware of). uznews.net has a remarkably critical article …
Continue reading New Year, new you? Father Christmas redesigned, Uzbek style
Having read about this last week, I was all set to think about the implications of the rather bizarre announcement from the Tajik Ministry of Education that they would be banning students from attending events run by foreign organisations. However, the kind people at the Institute for War and Peace Reporting have done this for …
Continue reading Tajik students not allowed to attend foreign-run events
Hello! Long time, no see... It's been an eventful summer with the events in Khorog, Tajikistan causing us great concern and anxiety. Life appears to be normalising again and I do hope the current calm prevails. On the home front I have been elected Chair of the Governing Body at our local primary school and …
Continue reading Tajik higher education: dress smart and pay up
(c) Evgeny Kuzmin, Eurasia.Net, http://www.eurasianet.org/node/65545 Uzbekistan: Karimov Decree Makes Schools, Universities Cell-Free Zones President Islam Karimov's administration in Uzbekistan wants school-age children to be in school and studying. Yet a new rule imposed on schools and universities indicates that officials are worried Uzbek youngsters are learning too much. Under a decree adopted in late May, students …
No sooner is he appointed to a new post as rector of the Tajik Pedagogical (teacher training) Institute has Abdujabbor Rahmonov hit the headlines with a publicity-friendly stunt to offer oft-stereotyped hungry students free bread. Whilst there’s no denying that bread is an important part of the Central Asian diet, it doesn’t take a higher …
Continue reading Let them eat bread: Tajik university rector’s gesture to students
Emma Sabzalieva 