Emma Harden-Wolfson

Higher education in Central Asia blog

  • UK universities in Uzbekistan: what is the ‘right thing’ to do?

    Trying to catch up on reporting on Central Asian higher education, here’s an article from the UK’s The Guardian newspaper from October 2013 (thanks to David Wolfson for bringing it to my attention).  It’s on partnerships between UK universities and institutions in Uzbekistan. Full text here: UK universities move into Uzbekistan even as human rights fears grow… Read more

  • Education deficit in Tajikistan, part 4

    I had no idea that this story would keep running and running… but now Eurasia Net have got in on the act and published their own story about the higher education system in Tajikistan. Entitled ‘Tajikistan: Even the Government Won’t Hire College Graduates‘, Asel Kalybekova’s story focusses on two quality issues: 1. The perceived lack… Read more

  • Education deficit in Tajikistan, part 3

    I didn’t realise when I blogged last month about the skills deficit in Tajikistan that this would become the first in a rather sad series of stories about educational deficit. The first post was followed by a story from the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, and today it’s the turn of American funded website… Read more

  • ‘Ninety percent of educators take bribes!’ – The sad and shocking truth about Uzbekistan’s universities

    This is a re-post from a discussion series called ‘Shoot Me’, initiated by the brave and bold Uznews in Uzbekistan. It’s on corruption in higher education: how and why it happens, and what the impact is. Read the original story at http://www.uznews.net/news_single.php?lng=en&sub=top&cid=4&nid=23567, from where you can also link to the 40 minute video interview which is… Read more

  • More on Tajikistan’s education deficit

    It seems that everyone wants to get in on the game of identifying deficits in Tajikistan. This time it’s the turn of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, in an audio report published [ru] [tj] at http://iwpr.net/report-news/tajikistans-education-deficit. I couldn’t access either audio stream but the text below [en] (is it a transcript?) is reproduced below.… Read more

  • Skills deficit will bring Tajikistan to its knees; education and training must be prioritised

    Avaz Saifiddinov, a journalist with as-independent-as-is-possible-in-Tajikistan Asia-Plus media group, this week reports [ru] – in almost apocalyptic terms – on the devastating impact that a lack of education and skills training can bring to a nation. He calls this qualification deficit the single biggest problem facing Tajikistan today, more so than corruption, lack of electricity… Read more