Emma Harden-Wolfson

Higher education in Central Asia blog

  • New publication: Emerging global players: Building institutional legitimacy in universities in Estonia and Kazakhstan

    Summer 2018 is turning out to be a productive time for book publishing: in July, a chapter I wrote with Professor Creso Sá on scientific nationalism and scientific globalism was published; late August saw the publication of my new chapter with Dr Merli Tamtik called: Emerging global players: Building institutional legitimacy in universities in Estonia… Read more

  • Privatizing Kazakhstan’s universities

    Kazakhstan has embraced private ownership of higher education and many other sectors since it became an independent state following the fall of the Soviet Union. This initially stemmed from the economic turmoil of the early and mid-1990s that led to a need to diversify what had once been a totally state owned and funded higher… Read more

  • Uzbek-Tajik higher education relations are warming up

    The honeymoon period of Uzbekistan’s now not-so-new President Mirziyoyev just keeps on going. Even hardened critics of what was once a solidly authoritarian regime in Uzbekistan are having to admit that the reform-driven new leader, who took the reins after the death of longstanding President Karimov following his death in December 2016, may be serious… Read more

  • Uzbekistan releases first university ranking

    Five years after the government resolved to introduce a national university ranking, Uzbekistan’s first domestic higher education league table was announced in July 2018 [ru]. 23 indicators were used to assess state-funded universities and institutes. These covered students’ learning outcomes, curriculum quality, faculty composition, research activity and classroom and ICT resources. All 57 public higher education… Read more

  • Chinese corporate social responsibility in Tajikistan, or, How to build a school for free

    The might of Chinese businesses operating in Tajikistan is growing, with news emerging of one company alone that will build three new schools in the country [ru] later this year, supporting over 1,000 students. This is not the first such initiative, which is being posited as evidence of Chinese corporate social responsibility. Other road-building companies have already financed… Read more

  • New publication: Scientific nationalism in a globalizing world

    After a break from blogging to attend the recent and quite fantastic World Cup in Russia, I’m back with the good news that I have a new publication out. This is a book chapter co-written with my supervisor Professor Creso Sá and is titled Scientific nationalism in a globalizing world. It’s part of a hefty new Handbook… Read more