Comparative and International Higher Education Policy Specialist; Focus on Central Asia
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
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 …
Can Tajikistan's large and growing diasporic population be harnessed to promote alternative visions for the country's future?
I recently presented at the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) Annual Conference and this blog post is about my presentation called Mapping change in former Soviet higher education systems: A view from the Russophone space. I also presented with my colleague Hayfa Jafar on our new joint research on how faculty in post-conflict societies are …
Continue reading Mapping change in former Soviet higher education systems
If you're in Toronto on Friday March 2 between 11am-12.30pm, please consider coming to a seminar organized by my department and the Munk School of Global Affairs in which Dr Shamsh Kassim-Lakha, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the University of Central Asia, will talk about this innovative, new, multi-country university. Details in the …
If you're feeling nostalgic for the Soviet Union, for the days of free education, jobs for life, and street names that were the same in every city, then it seems you're not alone. Sputnik News today reports the results of a poll of over 12,000 people across 11 countries of the former Soviet Union who were asked whether …
So, you're one of the very few Kyrgyzstanis to have completed an MBA at a top American business school. What are you going to do about it? Judging by the two graduates interviewed by Radio Liberty's Kyrgyz arm, Radio Azattyk, the answer is simple: share what you've learnt and try and inspire your compatriots to go and do …
Continue reading Kyrgyz MBA graduates aim to motivate and inspire others
Happy new year / S novim godom / Soli nav muborak to you all! Kickstarting this year's set of posts is a report from Kyrgyzstan on steps being taken - primarily by the government and a small but growing number of local NGOs - to bring greater equality to the country. The article can be …
Continue reading Steps towards gender equality in Kyrgyzstan
Here's a beautiful photo reportage on the gradual disappearance of large-scale Soviet-era frescos and mosaics that used to be commonplace on the walls of buildings all over the Soviet Union. Entitled 'The walls are crying', the article recognises that the façades of public buildings were very consciously used in Soviet times as a way of …
Continue reading Kazakhstan distances itself from Soviet past
Linking closely to my most recent post about an article on growing social gaps in Kazakhstan, I read an article today about protest culture in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan. As with the Kazakh story, whilst this BBC article does not directly link to higher education, there are definitely possibilities for interaction. This gives rise to some questions. …
Emma Sabzalieva 