Emma Harden-Wolfson

Higher Education in Central Asia Blog (est. 2011)

  • 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

  • Corruption corrupted in Kazakhstan

    Kazakh civil servant Almat Yermagambetov wins this week’s prize for bare faced deception. Yermagambetov handed over to the police a woman who falsely claimed she could obtain admission at Nazarbayev University and a place at a top school in return for a large amount of cash – $20,000 US to be exact. This sounds great for moves towards transparency… Read more

  • I’d close some universities if I could – Kazakh Ambassador to Canada

    The number of higher education institutions in Kazakhstan – a country with a population of 17 million – rocketed up from 55 in 1991 to a peak of 182 just a decade later. Many of these were very small institutes, privately run and focussed on teaching. A number of these naturally fell away in the subsequent years, but… Read more