Uzbekistan: Higher Education Reforms and the Changing Landscape Since Independence

This chapter is the first study that carefully documents higher education (HE) reforms in Uzbekistan since the demise of the former Soviet Union. It analyses evolution of the sector with clear emphasis on government policy and its impact on changing the country’s higher education landscape since independence. The study highlights complex interactions between the distinct pre- and post-independence contexts, policy legislation and its implementation on the one hand, and the demands of the new market-based economic system and the requirements of building and strengthening state institutions to support the transition process on the other hand. The paper will show why the country’s peculiar ‘strictly top-down’ approach to reforms has not been successful in improving a number of key areas including access to higher education, and human as well as physical capacities of higher education institutions which ultimately determine the quality of higher education provisioning.

Higher Education Transformation, Institutional Diversity and Typology of Higher Education Institutions in Azerbaijan

The development of higher education system of Azerbaijan reflects the country’s historical transformations. The system started developing with the foundation of the first higher education institution before the establishment of the Soviet Union, expanded during the Soviets and grew into current systems of 52 institutions since independence. Institutions changed in number and nature with the entrance of private universities into the higher education market and increase in number of state universities. Three-cycle higher education was introduced and institutions utilising Western university practices of management and teaching emerged. Despite the changes, the system still reflects much of the Soviet period. The typology of higher education institutions (HEIs) in Azerbaijan was built based on their educational, research, internationalisation activities and financial capacity. Institutions were classified as leading state and private higher education institutions, which excel in research and rank high in country ranking lists. The second group of institutions are known for good quality education but do not give a heavy weight on research. The last type of higher education institutions serve the purpose of preparing teachers and other public sector employees.

Inverted U-shape of Estonian Higher Education: Post-Socialist Liberalism and Postpostsocialist Consolidation

This chapter provides a description of the basic features of the higher education system in Estonia in the historical perspective, paying special attention to the period during the Soviet time right before the USSR collapse and exploring the developments during the following period up to 2015. It is understood that both the social and political system during the period of socialism, as well as changes in the society during the postsocialist period right after the country became independent, have an impact on the current period. On the other hand, changes in the Estonian higher education system are greatly impacted by external factors, especially processes of Europeanisation and internationalisation of higher education. Tendencies towards standardisation of higher education provision, on the one hand, as well as maintaining differentiation between higher education institutions will be highlighted.The analysis distinguishes four periods of the postsocialist higher education system in Estonia, characterised by different traits. 1988–1992 can be considered a period of chaotic, individually and institutionally driven changes; 1993–1998 saw the major expansion of the higher education system in combination with the development of legal frameworks and quality assurance mechanisms; 1999–2005 indicated the wave of reforms, including following the principles of the Bologna process; from 2006 onwards, new measures are put in place to strengthen the (international) competitiveness and sustainability of the shrinking higher education sector. The main strand of differentiation between the higher education institutions largely follows their formal statuses that stem from the soviet period: the applied higher education institutions on the one hand and the academic universities providing bachelor, master’s and doctoral level education on the other. The further differentiation can be made based on the research intensity of the universities as well as based on their legal status, with some being declared national universities by their dedicated laws.

Russia: The Institutional Landscape of Russian Higher Education

In this chapter we explore the higher education institutional landscape taking the case of the largest post-Soviet higher education system: Russia. In the Post-Soviet period, Russian higher education has tremendously expanded. The dramatic growth of the number of students and institutions has been facilitated by the introduction of tuition fees in public and a new private sector. The shifts in social and economic demand for professional fields affected the disciplinary and organisational structure of higher educational institutions.The external forces (economic, political, social conditions) and higher education policy have been changing during the last decades. In the first part of the transitional period, the state provided limited regulation of the higher education system. In the 2000s, it has returned to its role of the main agent of change of the higher education system design. The diversity of institutional types that evolved in Russian higher education illustrate the consequences of massification and marketisation, such as new “broad access” segments and institutional programme drift. Also, the governmental role in shaping institutional diversity can be seen through attempts to increase vertical diversity (excellence initiatives), on the one hand, and to restrain it by closing down bottom-tier institutions, on the other.

Armenia: Transformational Peculiarities of the Soviet and Post-Soviet Higher Education System

The chapter explores the nature of higher education in post-Soviet Armenia given the factors prevailing in the system—historical, political, socio-economic and international. Of particular interest is the exploration of the higher education system structure reflected by social needs, economic demands and political goals. Supported by a holistic theoretical framework underpinning three angles of analysis—horizontal and vertical diversity, external diversity as well as the organisational interrelationships—the analysis endeavours to reveal the driving forces that shaped post-Soviet Armenian higher education, the inter-influence that occurred as a result of changes taking place at the macro and micro levels of the higher education system as well as the impact of those changes on the performance of the Armenian HE in general. The results of the analysis are two-fold. First, throughout the decades the Armenian higher education has made major strides and evolved from a uniform into a diverse system responding and accommodating the diverse needs of the society. Second, albeit the strong desire and much investment in the system through a diversity of channels to make the system internationally visible, still more investments are to be made to achieve the desirable goal of international visibility while facing the challenges related to the Soviet legacy, current policymaking and implementation methodology, in particular.

Looking at Kazakhstan’s Higher Education Landscape: From Transition to Transformation Between 1920 and 2015

Since independence in 1991, the Kazakhstani government has been aggressively pursuing higher education reform. This has led to the passing of a number of education-related laws and the adaptation of different policies and practices in order to facilitate the government’s initial priority of transitioning to a market economy and more recently, to achieve its goal of becoming one of the world’s top 30 economies by the year 2050. This chapter provides an overview of Kazakhstan’s Soviet higher education legacy and the subsequent changes that the higher education sector has both undergone and continues to undergo after joining the EU’s Bologna Process in 2010. In addition to providing a historical perspective of higher education reform in the Kazakhstani context, several typologies have been provided in order to visualise the way the regulatory reforms have resulted in some institutional diversity. The chapter concludes with the challenges that the higher education sector at different levels (e.g., the national (Kazakhstani Ministry of Education and Sciences) and regional and local/institutional levels) continues to face.

Georgia: Higher Education System Dynamics and Institutional Diversity

The evolution of Georgian higher education system in recent decades almost perfectly mirrors the political and socio-economic developments in the country. Having emerged from the uniform Soviet system, it has been undergoing radical changes and has transformed into a diverse institutional setup, which, for all its similarities with various higher education systems existing in other countries, cannot be categorised as a typical representative of one.At the risk of oversimplification, we can divide the process of transformation of Georgian higher education in post-soviet period into three stages corresponding to the phases of political and socioeconomic transformations of the country. Immediately after gaining independence, when country sunk into the chaos of civil war, ethnic conflicts and economic crisis, higher education changed largely by inertia and chaotically, without much direction or a uniform vision. Swift transition to market economy was reflected through massive privatisation of costs in higher education and consequent diversification of the form of institutional ownership into public and private. In the following period after 1994, was settling down after the earlier turmoil. The higher education system continued to develop slowly and largely independently from the central governmental guidance. As higher education detached itself from the alliance with the Soviet economy and accordingly with various line ministries, many institutions changed their narrow profiles and started offering a wider range of specialisations thus responding to the demands of the market economy.Starting in 2004, following the Rose Revolution, the changes were more centralised, planned and fitted with the greater vision of economic liberalism of the government team. Joining the Bologna process and applying the principles of market economy to the governance of higher education happened simultaneously. The result was integration of research at universities and a seemingly ‘meritocratic’ way of admitting students and provision of funds, which ultimately define the prestige of universities.

The Transformation of Higher Education in Turkmenistan: Continuity and Change

Over the past century Turkmenistan developed a modern system of higher education that grew from a single university under Moscow’s direction to 24 institutions today. Under Presidents Niyazow and Berdimuhamedow, educational infrastructure developed dramatically. Despite this growth, the system of higher education suffers from a lack of faculty—universities meet the needs of less than ten percent of high school graduates. Additionally, curricula continue to reflect a strong and pervasive state ideology. Overall, the state—the only purveyor of higher education in Turkmenistan—is not meeting societal needs. This article explores the history of education policy in post-Soviet Turkmenistan, focusing on the reforms initiated by that country’s first two presidents.

Lithuanian Higher Education: Between Path Dependence and Change

This chapter provides an analysis of structural transformations of the Lithuanian higher education landscape paying special attention to developments during Soviet times and in the period after 1990. Lithuanian higher education, which dates back to the sixteenth century, has changed from a traditional elite system to a mass system over time. Political, economic and social change, including the Soviet occupation of the country, the re-establishment of independence and Europeanization through the Bologna Process and accession to the European Union have had significant impact on the Lithuanian higher education landscape.We have identified three periods of structural change. The first period from 1990 to 2000 is characterized by the re-establishment of universities and of academic autonomy and sporadic expansion of the system. During the second phase from 2001 to 2009, main system expansion and horizontal differentiation took place due to the establishment of the private higher education sector and a boom of the non-university higher education sector. Further, vertical differentiation within the system was reinforced through the availability of EU funding. The third phase, which started in 2010, has witnessed demographic decline, increasing competition and efforts of internationalization as well as more recently also attempts at consolidation of HEIs. The major challenges for the future of this system lie in increasing trust in public authorities, breaking from path dependencies of Soviet legacy, demographic changes, brain drain and increasing competition.

Transformation of Higher Education Institutional Landscape in Post-Soviet Countries: From Soviet Model to Where?

This chapter introduces the project that aimed at mapping the institutional landscape changes in higher education in 15 post-Soviet countries. The project takes the Soviet legacy as a point of departure and describes and analyses the important developments that took place with the fall of the Soviet system and the impacts these developments had on the landscape. Key developments pertain to, for example, the change from a state-dominated ideology to a steering philosophy with many market elements, finding a new balance between supply and demand, international developments and demographic developments. The landscapes have changed significantly with the emergence of non-state providers, a reconfiguration of “traditional” institutions (universities, academies, institutes) and also a growth in the public sectors of higher education.