Internationalizing Higher Education in Turkmenistan?: Early experiences at the International University for Humanities and Development in Ashgabat

• In Event: Highlighted session: Changes, corruption, and academic integrity in Eurasian higher education

Proposal

Turkmenistan has arguably been furthest removed from the educational and higher educational investments and development seen throughout Eurasia. While most newly independent states have expanded higher education opportunities and eagerly sought reforms consistent with globalization, Turkmenistan did not, pursuing instead what some observers would call “Turkmenization.” In the process of creating a Turkmen nation and a Turkmen people speaking the Turkmen language immediately after independence, education and higher education concentrated on looking in, not looking out (e.g., Clements and Katayeva, 2018). The remaining vestiges of Soviet educational philosophy were previously and systematically expunged, as were teachers and professors with international interests and attachments. And unlike most of its neighbors, Turkmenistan lowered its compulsory years of secondary education, and slashed the number of these graduates who could attend university (Gaynor, 2017). Recently, however, Turkmenistan announced new interests in re-connecting with the larger world educational space, and targeted future participation with Bologna reforms. As part of this, in May 2014, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov signed a decree on establishment of the International University for Humanities and Development (IUHD), which purports to undertake and lead this mission. The university includes six faculties: social sciences, (English) language learning, international economy and management, international law and international relations, international technologies, and international advancement. These colleges are further subdivided into 13 departments in 14 major fields of study, including such fields as international journalism, international public law, international private law; economy; trade; finance, insurance, management; etc. All instruction is in English and minimal tuition fees are charged (Wikipedia, 2017).
For six months in the 2016-17 academic year I had a front seat to the internal and external complexities and difficulties experienced by IUHD as it attempted to create and negotiate a path through the previous policies and cultural obstacles of an authoritarian HEI regime. Sponsored under an international institutional arrangement, I lectured in Western social sciences and served as internal resource and advisor to a very young but determined faculty on aims and processes of Western universities. Meanwhile, I was eager to capture the themes and topics of daily student and faculty lives within this new institution from a qualitative prospective, following the case-study method outlined by Merriam (1998), and the ethnographic interview s approach of Spradley (1979). Data collection protocols were employed between March and April of 2016, and from September 2016 until January 2017. Analysis of concerns and issues in university functioning expressed by over 30 students and faculty were examined in the Spring and Summer of 2017. In addition, IUHD web pages dedicated to international objectives and academic programs were analyzed throughout 2018. Discussion of the concerns and issues (and possibilities) found at IUHD will be the topic of my CIES presentation.

References


Clements, V. and Katayeva, Z (2018). Transformations of Higher Education in Turkmenistan: Continuity and Change. In: 25 Years of Transformations of Higher Education Systems in Post-Soviet Countries. Huisman, Smolentseva and Froumin (eds.); pp 387-406.
Gaynor, K. (2017). Transformations in Turkmen higher education: current opportunities and challenges at a new university. Central Asian Survey 36(1):1-20
Merriam, S. (1998). Qualitative Research and Case Study Applications in Education. San Francisco: Josey Bass.
Spradley, J. (1979). The Ethnographic Interview. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Wikipedia, 2017: International University for Humanities and Development ahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_University_of_Humanities_and_Development. Posted: March 11 2017; retrieved, October 1, 2018..

Author

• Alan J. Deyoung, University of Kentucky