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- Convenor:
-
Martha Merrill
(Kent State University)
Send message to Convenor
- Chair:
-
Joseph Stark
(Samarkand International University of Technlogy (SIUT))
- Discussant:
-
Ronald Wiley
(Samarkand International University of Technology)
- Format:
- Panel
- Theme:
- Education
- Location:
- 308 (Floor 3)
- Sessions:
- Saturday 8 June, -
Time zone: Asia/Almaty
Abstract:
In times of political, economic, social, and demographic change, educational institutions often are asked to fulfill new functions for new audiences in new ways. How do those new audiences evaluate the quality of the new functions, sometimes delivered by new institutions? In Central Asia, countries with different histories and different goals have different answers. A common theme, however, is the search for quality. Our five papers examine different facets of this issue.
Aleksey Semyonov considers the interaction between student engagement and attendance. Drawing upon statistics on attendance and student performance, plus state policies in Uzbekistan, he reflects on both the efficacy of state policies and the options open to individual institutions to increase attendance and student engagement, and thus the quality of students’ education.
At the school level, Chris Whitsel discusses national-level, community- level, and family-level variables that influence children’s enrollment. He argues that the community level factors are key. Through his research in Tajikistan, he found that cultural norms in the community and school quality significantly impacted school participation, especially for girls.
Chynarkul Ryskulova explores the coexistence of Ph.D. programs adapted from western models along with traditional Kandidat Nauk and Doktor Nauk programs in Kyrgyzstan. Why do prospective graduate students choose one or the other? How do faculty view these options? How do perceptions of the quality of each enter into the choices that students and faculty make?
Returning to Uzbekistan, Martha Merrill looks how the recently allowed new private universities use British partners and the partners’ validation of university coursework as tools to show prospective students that the new universities possess “world-class” quality.
Alan France, in turn, looks at the British entrants into transnational education themselves, emphasizing that the future depends on the success of all of the actors involved. Drawing on more than 20 years of experience with TNE in Uzbekistan, his paper sketches the common traits of the successful models.
Demographics differ, reforms differ, educational levels differ, and the goals of parents, students, faculty, and administrators may differ, but in the search for quality, students’ presence in classrooms, at particular institutions, and in certain kinds of programs, and the development of policies and procedures that engage them and create perceptions of excellence among all relevant stakeholders are key factors in evolving ideas of quality.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Saturday 8 June, 2024, -Abstract:
During the Soviet era and while Karimov was president, Uzbekistan had the smallest percentage of secondary school students continuing on to higher education of all of the fifteen republics. Karimov emphasized, instead, specialized secondary schools. Under Mirziyoyev, the proportion of secondary school students attending higher education has increased substantially, in part because private higher education institutions were permitted by a change in the law in higher education in 2020. Estimates are that 65 to 80 such institutions have opened.
However, since the change is so recent, none of the new institutions has had a graduating class and therefore none can provide proof of quality by graduates being employed or getting into graduate schools. So how does a prospective student choose what institution to apply to, particularly when many of the new institutions offer similar courses (business and IT) and many of them offer those courses in English? Tuition and location are two reasons.
Another reason is that a new institution has a partnership with a foreign institution, usually British, that either validates the institution’s courses or allows the Uzbek institution to offer its courses on a franchise basis. Among the new institutions with British partners are British Management University (University of Reading for the foundations course and Queen Margaret University for undergraduate classes); the International Digital University (Wolverhampton University), TEAM University (London South Bank University), and the University of Digital Economics and Agrotechnologies (Coventry University). Using a combination of interviews and website data, this research will explore the uses of the British partner universities as markers of quality for new Uzbek universities.
Abstract:
The paper will present some findings from an ongoing research on faculty and students’ perspectives on newly implemented Ph.D. programs compared to aspirantura and doctorantura. While continuing traditional Kandidat Nauk and Doktor Nauk programs, universities in Kyrgyzstan started offering western models of Ph.D. programs in 2013. Offering Ph.D. programs seems to be a logical transition to the completion of three-level structure in the higher education system—Bachelor’s, Master’s and Ph.D. However, the Ministry of Education Ph.D. requirements are not realistic in the current higher education context of Kyrgyzstan. There are still debates among university faculty about the level of a Ph.D. degree, they do not fully understand the differences between Ph.D. and Kandidat Nauk or Doktor Nauk degrees. The universities started admitting students to Ph.D. programs without clear academic policies and procedures. In addition, there are no faculty with western Ph.D. degrees among the heads of the Ph.D. programs in public universities. Consequently, none of the Ph.D. programs can assure the quality of education in these new programs without creating sufficient faculty resources and funding. According to the Regulations of the KR on postgraduate professional education (Ph.D.) (Decree #601 of the KR, 2020, December 11), doctorate students should complete two or three years of course work, conduct independent research, should have research internship abroad not less than a month, and publish not less than two research articles in the scientific journals of WEB of Science and Scopus. For example, the Kyrgyz State Technical University’s Ph.D. program requires three months of internship abroad and an international supervisor who should come to Kyrgyzstan for six months. A student should pay all the expenses for his/her stay in a foreign country during his/her internship, and the stay of the international supervisor in Kyrgyzstan. Students cannot afford these expenses (personal communications, July 2023). Moreover, they cannot do internships or work with an international supervisor without proper command of a foreign language. This is one of the main reasons for local students not to join Ph.D. programs. It is easier to do Kandidat Nauk as students in Aspirantura must take only three exams: foreign language, philosophy, and major subject. It does not require an internship abroad or international supervisor, and it is mainly independent research without taking any research courses.
Abstract:
Empirical research on factors that influence children’s educational participation has demonstrated ways in which a variety of national-level, community-level, and family-level variables influence children’s school enrollment. This is due in large part to a search for generalizable large-scale solutions to children’s school absence. Prevailing models of educational participation have not sufficiently addressed the influence of community variables. The community-level factors are a key for understanding the relationship between these fields. Through my quantitative and qualitative research in Tajikistan over the past 15 years, I found that cultural norms in the community and school quality factors significantly impacted school participation, especially for girls. School factors are especially affected by the national-level policy and economic environment, but are also subject to community factors, such as availability of teachers and economic outcomes.