Emma Harden-Wolfson

Higher education in Central Asia blog

  • If you want to get ahead, wear a dress

    The month of March brings with it the official start of spring, the vernal equinox (this year on 20 March), and in Tajikistan – as with other Central Asian countries – the celebration of Navruz / No’rooz, or New Light/Day. There are multiple spelling variations of what has been classified as an ‘intangible cultural heritage’… Read more

  • They cared for cattle more than kids -Tajik President recasts the Soviet era

    Whilst popular opinion across the former Soviet Union generally remembers the Soviet period with more than a hint of the rose-tinted glasses – see this summary of an EBRD survey in 2016 or this Sputnik News story on my blog from August 2016 – one man is seemingly on a mission to upend these conceptions. And he’s someone that people have… Read more

  • New research from Central Asian university students

    Intrigued by reforms to education in Kazakhstan, from the new trilingual education policy to greater steps towards decentralization of governance? Want to know what students at a new Kazakh university think about life on campus or the effectiveness of their institution’s strategic plan? Curious to learn more about students’ views on learning methods, from videoessays to critical thinking… Read more

  • Education for the local, as well as the national and global

    Starting off the new year with a hopeful story – and I will do what I can to make this year one where hope is rekindled – comes news from the University of Central Asia‘s (UCA) brand new campus in Naryn, Kyrgyzstan. Regular readers will know I’ve been following this project for 15 years now, since working for the… Read more

  • Holiday viewing: Universities in Soviet Kazakhstan

    Every now and again, I treat you (well, really this is as much for my own benefit) to a visual offering on this blog. In previous years, we’ve had early Soviet era Central Asia posters, a tour of Bishkek’s universities and a selection of Christmas trees for the Tajik school and university students who were banned from… Read more

  • Is President Nazarbayev legacy building?

    There have been a spate of stories recently about Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev that suggest a new stage in his quarter century long leadership of the nation. This stage consists of the development of a legacy that seeks to frame Nazarbayev as if being written for future history textbooks. He has already taken on the mantle of Leader of… Read more