Challenges in contemporary higher education in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia

Abstract

Largely unknown to most of the world, Kyrgyzstan has a flourishing higher education (HE) sector, with more universities per head than other countries with similar populations. Kyrgyzstan is also a major regional importer of international students in Central Asia. This paper opens up this understudied country in three ways: first, through a brief analysis of the HE sector in Kyrgyzstan; second, by offering a personal view of life on the HE coalface through the findings of primary interviews with university managers in Kyrgyzstan, and third, by identifying five key contemporary challenges of working in Kyrgyz universities. The paper therefore contributes to the limited academic and practical study of HE in Central Asia by offering a new perspective on contemporary global challenges in HE administration and management. The key findings are relevant to organisations seeking to understand the context of working in the HE sector in Kyrgyzstan, and also to individuals and organisations wishing to deepen their comparative understanding of HE sectors around the world.

Keywords:

• Kyrgyzstan
• Central Asia
• higher education

Acknowledgements

I extend my warm thanks to the participants for their willingness to be interviewed, and to Norma Jo Baker and in particular to Jyldyz Doolbekova for their assistance in identifying participants.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. http://sabzalieva.wordpress.com.

2. Russian is widely used as a language for state and inter-agency communication in Central Asia owing to the countries’ shared Soviet past, but the official language in Kyrgyzstan is Kyrgyz. Knowledge of English is increasing but is not widespread.

3. http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/hogeronderwijs/bologna/about/.

4. Doctor of Science in the former Soviet system is a higher doctoral degree, comparable to the habilitation qualification offered in some countries.

5. https://www.auca.kg/en/auca_news/1756/, accessed on 24 November 2014.

6. http://www.ambitiousfutures.co.uk/, accessed on 3 December 2014.

7. Source: http://www.ecc.ac.uk/, accessed on 17 January 2015.

8. For comparison, Russia has an 11% poverty rate and Kazakhstan is at 2.9%.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Joan Balchin Memorial Travel Fund, and I am grateful to the trustees for their support.

Emma Sabzalieva FAUA, is an experienced and innovative HE professional with significant experience of working in a variety of HE settings in the UK and internationally. She is currently College Registrar at St Antony's College and has previously worked in a range of other roles at the University of Oxford; the Institute of Education, University of London; and the University of Central Asia. In addition to her career in university administration, Emma researches HE, society and politics in post-Soviet Central Asia.