Emma Harden-Wolfson

Higher Education in Central Asia Blog (est. 2011)

  • Calls to bring back Russian to Tajik classrooms

    EurasiaNet’s Konstantin Parshin has identified what he sees as a growing call EurasiaNet’s Konstantin Parshin has identified what he sees as a growing call amongst Tajik parents for more and better Russian language instruction in primary schools. The article, at http://www.eurasianet.org/node/70211 and (c) EurasiaNet, offers an interesting angle on the oft-repeated theme of endemic corruption… Read more

  • Too many unis in Kyrgyzstan?

    Hot on the heels of my last post which compared the high number of universities in Kyrgyzstan to other European countries with similar populations, it seems that the Kyryz government has also taken up the theme. Kyrgyz news agency 24 yesterday reported on criticisms made by the head of state Almazbek Atambayev about quality levels… Read more

  • Views of Bishkek / Вузы Бишкека

    This summer I spent nearly a month in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, both on holiday and also doing some research on university administration and management in Central Asian universities. More on the latter in a future post but in the meantime, today’s post is a “postcard” from me highlighting just a handful of Bishkek’s many higher education institutions.… Read more

  • Managing your career in higher education administration is PUBLISHED

    Our new book, Managing your career in higher education administration, is officially published today! Amazon.co.uk even tells me that there is ‘limited stock’ available, although at 648,950 in their bestsellers rank I suspect that is more to do with the smallish print run than anything else… If you haven’t already ordered your copy, please feel free… Read more

  • Why fund students to study abroad?

    So asks a report by the British Council and the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD, or German Academic Exchange Service) that I have been meaning to post for some time: http://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/britishcouncil.uk2/files/e002_outward_mobility_study_final_v2_web.pdf ‘The rationale for sponsoring students to undertake international study: an assessment of national student mobility scholarship programmes’ was published at this year’s British Council-sponsored Going… Read more

  • Higher education in Russia and beyond

    I welcome the launch of a new bulletin, Higher Education in Russia and Beyond (HERB). Published in English by Moscow-based Higher School of Economics as a supplement to International Higher Education [ru], the bulletin aims to present current Russian, Central Asian and Eastern European educational trends to the international higher education research community. Aside from boasting… Read more