Emma Harden-Wolfson

Higher education in Central Asia blog

  • Postscript to What’s your brand?

    Just a few days after my post about universities’ brands, I enjoyed reading an article in the Times Higher Education, the UK’s specialist higher education publication, about Nazarbayev University. The article “No shame in the name” explains how a Cambridge University college has (at least temporarily) withdrawn a fellowship named after Nazarbayev. As in Nazarbayev Read more

  • Post-soviet universities need academic salaries reform to succeed – University World News

    Re-post of an interesting article from: http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=201204070940315 By Gregory Androushchak and Maria Yudkevich For decades, universities in Soviet countries were governed, evaluated and financed according to the same principles. The system is not like this any more. However, faculty contracts – a core element in any university – have not changed much. Faculty contracts in post-Soviet Read more

  • What’s your brand?

    Yesterday, I attended my MBA graduation ceremony (I completed the MBA last year but the ceremonies only take place in April). My university, the Institute of Education, University of London, put on a great day and the Director  gave a congratulatory speech that managed to be motivational whilst grounded in pragmatism, a difficult feat to Read more

  • Post-Soviet education, part 2: Uzbekistan

    Here are a couple of stories about cotton-rich Uzbekistan. The first, from a blog called Why Nations Fail, looks at the phenomenon of children being forced to pick cotton when they should be in school. Below is an extract from the blog post specific to Uzbekistan: … For starters, take Uzbekistan. Why does it have Read more

  • Post-Soviet education, part 1: Russia

    By happy coincidence, I’ve read a number of articles recently looking at education in a number of the post-Soviet countries. Below is an interesting story about Russia, written just before Putin’s re-“election” as President, and it also touches on higher education. The story is (c) Ria Novosti. Putin praises Russia’s educational revolution An “educational revolution” Read more

  • Happy International Women’s Day! С международным женским днём!

    Today provides a great opportunity to publicise some articles published over recent days highlighting both the advances made by women and examining some of the factors that still hold women back in the world. First, women in higher education: The Guardian’s Higher Education Network is discussing  women in higher education who have inspired you on the website and Read more