Paper abstract:

Comparative educators are interested in how and why education systems change, and particularly why actors in different systems make different choices – or similar choices. The collapse of the Soviet Union has provided comparative educators with an unprecedented opportunity to study changes and their causes: in 1991, all 15 of the nations that then were Soviet republics all had the same higher education system, and thirty years later, in 2022, they all have different systems. Uzbekistan is a particularly interesting case, because from 1991 to 2016, it was ruled by a repressive dictator, Islam Karimov, who limited access to higher education and emphasized specialized secondary education. His successor, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, while proceeding cautiously with political liberalization, understands that attracting foreign investment to provide jobs for Uzbekistan’s huge youth population (40% of the population of 31 million is 24 or younger – CIA World Factbook, 2020) is essential (Anceschi, 2018; Gong, 2020; Ruiz-Ramas and Hernandez, 2021). Mirziyoyev also understands that the jobs of the future require more than secondary education, and thus he is interested in higher education reform, including international branch campuses (the numbers have leaped from 7 to 21 in the five and a half years since Karimov died) and new private universities – both quicker ways of initiating change than reforming existing universities. While authors have studied the new international branch campuses (Celeti et al, 2019; Chankseliani, 2020; Merrill and Yakubova, 2021 and 2022; Mirkasimov et al, 2021; Ubaydullaeva, 2020), no scholarly works have been published in English that specifically analyze the processes needed for institutional authorization, and none have addressed the new domestic start-ups, including TEAM University (https://teamuni.uz/ ) and the International Digital University (https://www.idu.uz/ ).

The research methods are both document analysis and interviews with faculty and administrators who have been involved in the start-up process. Document analysis reveals that in the case of five South Korean IBCs, although all focus on career and professional education, other aspects of their authorizations, such as financing and governance, show considerable variation. Initial consideration of one private university authorization reveals an emphasis on international linkages. Interviews are planned for June 2022.