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 …
Tag: study abroad
Why are Uzbek students abroad being sent home?
No choice but to home for Uzbekistan's overseas students Uzbekistan's Ministry of Education has announced that Uzbek students studying abroad in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan should return home and enrol at a domestic higher education institution. The Ministry has been quick to underline that this decision is not connected to the novel coronavirus that …
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International students from the former Soviet space
How many international students are there from the former Soviet Union? Has that number increased over time? Which country sends the most international students? Find out more in this post!

The Bologna Process in Central Asia
Why do policymakers outside the European Union decide to implement the Bologna Process? How are these reforms received by faculty members? This post looks at these questions from a Central Asian angle.
Is there space for civil society in Kazakhstan?
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 …
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#scienceiamdoing – Kazakh women tell all about research and life abroad
Over on Kazakh social media, something rather brilliant is happening. At the end of March, a new Yvision (a trilingual Kazakh blogging platform) blog was set up to support an Instagram account that's already been in operation for several months. The aim of the blog and Instagram accounts are to promote a very exciting project: #KZPHDGIRLSUNION The …
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Of bars and brothels: Turkmenistani parents warned of dangers of allowing children to study abroad
The opportunity to study abroad is usually positioned as a life (and CV) enhancing experience. Among other benefits, studying abroad enables you to learn about different ways of teaching and learning, find out about new cultures, make new friends, and brush up on your language skills. Little wonder that the number of internationally mobile students …
Study abroad returnees required to report regularly to local police in Tajikistan
Not content with demanding its nationals return home from studying abroad, reports are circulating [ru] that the government of Tajikistan is now regularly monitoring these former students. Despite international borders opening for Tajiks since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Tajik government appears to be doing its best to close down opportunities …
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Hunger And Eviction: Money Woes Send Turkmen Students Abroad Scrambling (Repost from RFE/RL)
Not much is written about higher education in Turkmenistan. Its education system, like much else in the country, is generally closed off to the outside world. The only news that tends to get out is when some high cost project is launched (see e.g. British tabloid The Express on the opening of a new airport …
Controlling Central Asian “terrorism” and “religious extremism”
Earlier this week, Central Asia had a rare but inglorious moment in the news headlines after an Uzbek born man was found to be behind an attempt at a “terror” attack in New York City. For those unfamiliar with the region or with the complexities of global religious extremism, this event was quickly reduced to …
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