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 …
Tag: higher education reform
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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A degree more autonomy for Kazakhstan’s universities?
Give me a degree please! You've studied hard, taken exams, written essays, done experiments, completed practicums - basically, ticked all the boxes your course requires. All that's left is to get your well earned diploma (degree certificate). For students in Kazakhstan graduating from 2021, these diplomas will no longer be state issued but rather the …
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On what may lie ahead for Tajik higher education
A recent radio interview with Umed Mansurov, Vice-Rector (President) for International Affairs of Russian-Tajik Slavonic University in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, shed interesting light on what the future may hold for the country's higher education sector.
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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DIY budgeting: The self-financing experiment in Uzbekistan’s universities begins
Further to my December 2019 post, An Uzbek experiment, the new do-it-yourself funding model for 10 of the country's higher education institutions (HEIs) has now come into force. All 10 will be under the watchful eye of the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education to ensure that prices don't jump too high, too fast …
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An Uzbek experiment: Self-financing for universities
Hot on the heels of being awarded The Economist's 'Most Improved Nation' in 2019 and just ahead of parliamentary elections that may pave the way for future steps towards political openness, the government of Uzbekistan is not resting on its laurels. Uzbek HEIs demand to be given all the bills In early December it was …
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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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Uzbekistan: A breathtaking shift from autocracy to an open HE system
My latest piece for University World News, a global online publication for anyone with a passing interest in higher education, was published on October 19. I wanted to bring UWN's readership up to date with recent developments in Uzbekistan, which have been taking place at breakneck speed over the past couple of years. Please find …
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Conceptualizing major change in higher education
In my research on former Soviet higher education systems, the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 continues to feature prominently as a starting point for some of the subsequent shifts that have occurred in higher education (and in society at large). More recent changes such as the introduction of principles of the European Union's …
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Emma Sabzalieva 