I recently teamed up with Vasila Bozichaeva, higher education researcher and PhD candidate at the Academy of Sciences in Tajikistan to do an interview with The Diplomat on education in Central Asia. Our interview responses were furr-ific In the interview, we cover everything from the idea of a university in Soviet times to how Tajikistan's …
Tag: corruption
Going, going, gone: Kazakhstan’s Innovation University is shut down
A swathe of regulations, rankings, mergers, acquistions, and threats of closure for poor quality universities typify the Kazakh government's drive in recent years to increase and assure quality in its higher education system. The latest target of the quality movement is Innovation University, which had its operating licence removed in late January 2020 after two …
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You’re fired: 10 university heads lose their jobs in Uzbekistan
There was no love lost this Valentine's Day as ten university leaders in Uzbekistan were fired It was not an auspicious Valentine's day for ten of Uzbekistan's university leaders this year, with several newspapers running a story with the tantalizing title '10 university Rectors lose their jobs in one day' on February 14. If previous …
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Getting around the law to get in to university in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan
Central Asian faculty and friends I know are fond of observing that higher education in the region is not as good as it used to be, and/or is facing a 'crisis' because of a lack of quality, corruption, outflow of good teachers and so on. All of these points are valid. Yet at the same …
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More changes at the top of Uzbekistan’s universities
Following the firing of the Rector of Tashkent's 'most corrupt university' in August 2019, another university leader has been shown the door. Rector Bahodyr Khodiev of Tashkent State University of Economics (TSUE) was suspended in November 2019 on the grounds of corruption. Details of Khodiev's alleged activities have not been made public, but this very …
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Tashkent’s ‘most corrupt university’ has a new boss
Several weeks after news broke that the head of Tashkent's 'most corrupt university' had been fired, a new appointee has taken up the mantle. Tashkent State University of Law (TSUL)'s Rector Yesemurat Kanyazov was fired not just from his university leadership position but also from his other job as Deputy Minister of Justice. The official …
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Head of Tashkent’s ‘most corrupt university’ fired
Catching up on recent higher ed news, here's a story from Uzbekistan that speaks both to the ongoing wave of education policy reforms in that country as well as to the persistence of corrupt practices in higher education. At the end of August 2019, the Rector (Vice-Chancellor) of Tashkent State University of Law (TSUL) Yesemurat …
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Corruption finally on the wane in Kazakhkstan?
The votes have been counted and the results are in and... well, it turns out that Kazakhstan's higher education is not as corrupt as you might have thought. According to a report in Arna Press [ru], students in East Kazakhstan were generally pretty satisfied with their ability to progress through higher education without resorting to …
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Ranking corruption in Kazakh universities
A recurring theme for higher education in Central Asia is corruption. A quick search of my blog turns up story after story that I've written on this topic and that would only be scratching the surface. I know this is not only a problem for Central Asia, or even the broader former Soviet space. Just this …
New article: Fake dissertation scandal in Tajikistan
My new article is now out in University World News, in which I investigate a growing scandal in Tajikistan with a rash of plagiarised doctoral dissertations exposed. Vindicated in this highly embarrassing scandal include high level government officials and senior academics. Read the full story at http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20180428053554356.
Emma Sabzalieva 