Emma Harden-Wolfson

Higher education in Central Asia blog

  • Central Asia’s first universities

    As Tajikistan’s oldest university celebrates its 70th birthday [ru], I thought (as probably only I would) that this would be an excellent opportunity to reflect back on the development of universities in Central Asia in the early to mid 20th century. Prior to the 20th century, universities did not exist in Central Asia. That perhaps surprising fact… Read more

  • How to choose a university in Kazakhstan

    With a plethora of institutional offerings, deciding what, where and how to study are perennial questions for prospective students around the world. Here’s what Yelena Pak of Kazakhstan’s Delovoi [Business] Kazakhstan news agency [ru] suggests you should look out for if you’re going to apply in Kazakhstan. Rankings University rankings are a hot topic in… Read more

  • Mergers and acquisitions in Kazakhstan’s universities

    The merger of two universities in Kazakhstan represents an important moment for the governance of its higher education system. Read more

  • MOOC, meet Kazakhstan: Surfing a new wave of MOOC innovation

    More MOOC madness? The trend in higher education for MOOCs – massive open online courses – shows no sign of abating. We’re now five years on from the so-called Year of the MOOC in 2012 and whilst MOOCs don’t make the headlines so often any more, the number of courses and providers continues to mushroom. In 2016,… Read more

  • New article published: The policy challenges of creating a world-class university outside the global ‘core’

    I’m pleased to share the publication of my latest journal article. Out online in the European Journal of Higher Education now (and in print in June), my article is called The policy challenges of creating a world-class university outside the global ‘core’ and takes a fresh look at the now commonplace idea of the world-class university. I used… Read more

  • Take a look at these links

    A long overdue update of my Links page is now available. Tucked away on the blog, the idea behind this page is to share reliable, interesting and/or fun websites that focus on Central Asia or higher education (but not both – I’m the only person doing that). I also have a few links to other websites and blogs that… Read more