Comparative and International Higher Education Policy Specialist; Focus on Central Asia
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 …
Continue reading Selling out? Kazakhstan’s KIMEP University goes fully private
Cat on the road (to privatization?) Kazakhstan has energetically pursued privatization ever since emerging from the Soviet era some three decades ago. In higher education, this trend towards privatization has long been evident. Marketization has long been a feature of higher education in Kazakhstan. For example, the adoption of the 1995 law ‘On Privatization’, which …
Continue reading Rolling back privatization in Kazakhstan’s higher education?
I've been meaning to repost an article from The Diplomat on civil society in Kazakhstan for a while. With news of more arrests today after activists have unfurled banners and quoted the constitution, the topic of civil society in Kazakhstan is becoming a hot one. Tantalizingly entitled How can Kazakhstan revitalize its civil society?, author Sergey …
Continue reading Is there space for civil society in Kazakhstan?
In this week's University's World News, I take a look at how higher education has changed in Kazakhstan. I think there are five big stories to tell about higher education in the Nazarbayev era, and that these will shape the legacy he leaves behind in the country.
Following Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's recent firing of his entire cabinet (well, they resigned en masse, but under considerable pressure from the top to do so), a new Minister of Education and Science has been appointed. Replacing Yerlan Sagadiyev at the helm of Kazakhstan's constantly reforming education system is Kulyash Nogataevna Shamshidinova [ru]. An educator …
No stranger to creating new universities, Kazakhstan's longstanding (and thus far only) president Nursultan Nazarbayev has already set up or led initiatives since founding KIMEP University in 1992. Now, building on the investment and early successes of the eponymous Nazarbayev University - which the president apparently did not ask to be named after himself - …
There have been a spate of stories recently about Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev that suggest a new stage in his quarter century long leadership of the nation. This stage consists of the development of a legacy that seeks to frame Nazarbayev as if being written for future history textbooks. He has already taken on the mantle of Leader of …
Emma Sabzalieva 