Emma Harden-Wolfson

Higher Education in Central Asia Blog (est. 2011)

  • An Uzbek experiment: Self-financing for universities

    An Uzbek experiment: Self-financing for universities

    Hot on the heels of being awarded The Economist’s ‘Most Improved Nation‘ in 2019 and just ahead of parliamentary elections that may pave the way for future steps towards political openness, the government of Uzbekistan is not resting on its laurels. In early December it was announced that ten higher education institutions (HEIs) in Uzbekistan… Read more

  • 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… Read more

  • Tajikistan-China education cooperation

    News agency Avesta has published possibly the most boring story I’ve read about the prospects for higher education cooperation between Tajikistan and China. Seriously, this post could easily have been called ‘Diplomacy wins, or: How to make a story from nothing’. Bear in mind I read a lot of news stories about education in Central… Read more

  • Activism, academia and equality in Central Asia

    I’m a little late to the party on this, but then again it’s never too late to find time to read a brilliant series of articles on OpenDemocracy from earlier this year on how academic research is conducted in Central Asia. Spearheaded by tireless UK/Sweden/globally based academic and activist Dr Diana T. Kudaibergenova, the series… Read more

  • Getting around the law to get in to university in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

    Central Asian faculty and friends I know are fond of observing that higher education in the region is not as good as it used to be, and/or is facing a ‘crisis’ because of a lack of quality, corruption, outflow of good teachers and so on. All of these points are valid. Yet at the same… Read more

  • Keeping the classroom secular in Kyrgyzstan

    Kyrgyzstan’s President Sooronbay Jeenbekov has called on citizens to ensure that education in the country remains secular, citing the constitutional principle of compulsory basic education. At present, Kyrgyzstan has over 110 religious institutions – mostly medressas and Islamic colleges plus one Islamic university, but there are also 13 recorded Christian schools. This is a tiny… Read more