Higher Education in Tajikistan: Institutional Landscape and Key Policy Developments

Abstract

Higher education in Tajikistan has undergone substantial changes over the past 25 years as a result of both its internal crises and those social and economic transition challenges seen throughout the Newly Independent States (NIS). HEIs in the country have also shown eagerness to change and grow as they move toward world education space. In this chapter, we examine the evolution of the Tajik system of higher education from the Soviet time through independence (1991–2015) in terms of growth, emerging landscape and diversification, and key policy developments and issues. We analyze these changes in the context of relevant economic, social and political factors, and rely on a comparative analysis in understanding the commonalities and differences in higher educational landscapes between Tajikistan and others in the NIS. Institutional diversity has occurred in the country along several dimensions. Among these is a geometric expansion of the number of HEIs: Those transformed from preexisting Soviet institutes as well as the establishment of many new ones. This has been fueled partly by the mass creation of new programs that reflect the needs of an emerging knowledge-based economy but also the result of parental craving for higher education for their children—regardless of market demands. Specific features of the massification of higher education in Tajikistan are further explained by internationalization according to the Bologna Process and other globalization agendas; the establishment of international HEIs under bilateral government agreements (with Russia), and significantly increasing HEI programs and enrolments in far-flung regions of the country—especially in programs related to industry and technology. Our analyses are based on a variety of official statistical sources; educational laws, institutional documents and reports published by international organizations; accounts from the English-language press; and open-ended interviews conducted by the authors in Tajikistan between 2011 and 2014.

English in higher education in the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan

“…Similar to the Kyrgyz Republic, some international students go to study in Tajikistan because it is cheaper. International student enrolment data for AY2014–2015 in Tajikistan showed that there were around 900 students mostly from neighbouring Afghanistan, Iran, and India (DeYoung et al., 2018).…”

Faculty Experiences of Higher Education Internationalization in Post-conflict Iraq and Tajikistan

“…A formal structure for higher education was established for the first time (Krasheninnikov & Nechaev, 1990), with the country's first higher education institution opening in 1931. By the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Tajikistan had 10 higher education institutions and an Academy of Sciences representing a population of five million (DeYoung et al, 2018). Teaching and research in the Soviet era were largely separated, a legacy that continues to impact research capacity in contemporary Tajikistan (Sabzalieva, 2022).…”

Governance structure and standard setting in educational assessment

“…In cases where centralised examinations are the sole criterion for university entry (e.g. most former Soviet countries), the nationalised system of university admissions can increase the transparency, reduce corruption by removing local control of decisions about admissions, and allegedly enhance equity (DeYoung et al, 2018;Ruziev & Burkhanov, 2018;Smolentseva et al, 2018). The existing evidence on former Soviet countries shows that while the corruption was eradicated in some settings (Chankseliani, 2014;World Bank, 2012), equal treatment of all applicants did not translate into equitable outcomes (Chankseliani, 2013a(Chankseliani, , 2013b.…”