Comparative and International Higher Education Policy Specialist; Focus on Central Asia
In May 2023 I had the privilege to speak at a conference organized by Tashkent State University of Economics (TSUE) in Uzbekistan. The conference was opened by the Minister of Higher Education and TSUE's Rector, with an interesting line-up of international speakers who shared research and ideas on the broad topic of educational quality. On …
Continue reading Higher education internationalization in Uzbekistan and Central Asia
Curious to know more about trends in higher education internationalization in Central Asia? What might lie ahead for academic mobility in the pandemic/post-pandemic era? How the pandemic has driven innovation in digitalization of academic mobility? Then you will likely want to tune in to my public lecture Digital future? Virtual academic mobility and the prospects …
Here's a link to a very interesting recent story from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty by the excellent Bermet Talant. In this piece, Talant interviews a university student in Tajikistan and an instructor at a private university in Uzbekistan about the higher education landscape as seen from their perspectives. You can read the key takeaways or …
Continue reading The challenges of higher education in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan
While Russia and other countries of the ex-Soviet space are not covered by this blog, external events influence what's happening in Central Asia. And, when it comes to higher education, Russia is unavoidable. It's the largest host of international students from Central Asian countries and there are several Russian bi-national universities and Russian branch campuses …
Continue reading What’s next for the Bologna Process in Central Asia?
The internationalization of higher education has been on a fairly linear upward trajectory (at least until 2019 - data for the pandemic period isn't fully available and it's too soon to see whether travel and other disruptions will have a long-term effect). That means more students going abroad for all or part of their programmes, …
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 …
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 …
Continue reading Kazakhstan: Higher education on hold at home, students stranded abroad
One last reform to Uzbekistan's higher education system rounds out another busy year of change in that country. New rules are coming in that will allow certain universities greater autonomy over who they choose to lead them and will also create a new supervisory board structure similar to a governing body. From plans to create …
Continue reading Starting from the top: Steps towards autonomy in Uzbekistan’s universities
Join me live at 9.30am EST / 9.30pm CST on Thursday August 13 talking higher education in Central Asia with SCOLAR Talk
Мой отчет о политике в сфере высшего образования в Центральной Азии и Афганистане теперь доступен на русском языке. Его можно найти на сайте Университета Центральной Азии (заказчик проекта) илл скачать здесь. Огромное спасибо УЦА за перевод! If you prefer it in English, you can find my report on higher education policy in Central Asia and …
Continue reading Политика в сфере высшего образования в Центральной Азии и Афганистане
Emma Sabzalieva 