Higher education internationalization in Uzbekistan and 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 …

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Podcast: Internationalization in post-conflict societies – Iraq and Tajikistan

Following the recent publication of our open access article on faculty experiences of higher education internationalization in post-conflict Iraq and Tajikistan, my co-author Dr Hayfa Jafar and I were invited by the team at Thesis podcast to discuss our findings in audio form. Dropping today, our episode can be found at https://anchor.fm/thesis-podcast along with links …

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Digital future of academic mobility and higher education in Central Asia – public lecture, 4 October

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 …

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You can study abroad, except where you can’t: Uzbekistan restricts students from some Kyrgyz and Tajik universities

After a minor uproar over Uzbekistan's February 2020 announcement that its students abroad should return home, the country's latest announcement about where its citizens may (and may not) study abroad was unlikely to go unnoticed - even as regional travel remains restricted as a result of Covid-19. A total of 16 universities - 8 each …

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Why are there no foreign universities in Tajikistan?

This is the excellent question posed by Khaidar Shodiev writing for Asia-Plus, the nearest thing Tajikistan has to an independent newspaper. Strictly speaking, the country's higher education system is not entirely devoid of international universities, with the regional University of Central Asia's campus in Khorog and three Russian branch campuses all in the capital Dushanbe. …

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International students on the rise in Kazakhstan

In 2019, over 25,000 international students chose to study abroad in Kazakhstan. This figure is up from 16,000 last year, an impressive year-on-year increase of 64%. According to the Ministry of Education and Science, most international students come from India, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. The Ministry believes that one reason for the growth is …

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Today at CESS 2018: Roundtable on Central Asian Encounters with the European Higher Education Area

If you should find yourself in Pittsburgh, PA, today - October 27, 2018 - please join us at the Central Eurasian Studies Society's 2018 Annual Conference for our roundable on Global Bolognaization: Central Asian Encounters with the European Higher Education Area. Followers of my blog may remember the call for proposals that co-convenor Aliya Akatayeva …

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New(ish) publication: The politics of the great brain race

I realized I didn't blog about a recently published article I co-authored with Prof Creso Sá, my supervisor at the University of Toronto. How remiss of me! (?!) So, let me tell you about our article, The politics of the great brain race: Public policy and international student recruitment in Australia, Canada, England and the USA, …

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