Maia Chankseliani

• Ed.M (Harvard), PhD (Cantab)
• Professor at University of Oxford

International development higher education is a distinct space in a vibrant and growing field of higher education studies. This paper examines international development higher education scholarship to highlight its thematic, disciplinary, methodological, and analytical eclecticism. At the heart of international development higher education is the a...

What Happened to the Soviet University? explores how one of the largest geopolitical changes of the twentieth century—the dissolution of the Soviet Union— triggered and inspired the reconfiguration of the Soviet university. The reader is invited to engage in a historical and sociological analysis of radical and incremental changes affecting sixty-n...

This study investigates the significant yet under-examined role of international student returnees in catalysing societal development in their home countries. Through systematic mapping and thematic synthesis of 53 articles selected from an initial pool of 1515, this review delineates the literature's portrayal of returnees' impacts across various...

This systematic review explores the impact of international professional mobility (IPM) programmes for continuing professional development by addressing two key research questions: (1) What is the impact of IPM on participants? (2) What contributions do participants make at organisational, community, and national levels after participating in IPM?...

This paper explores the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on Russia's academic sector, relying on the limited evidence available. The invasion has triggered an academic exodus from Russia, with immediate and far-reaching consequences. These consequences range from the interruption of ongoing research projects and termination of international collabo...

bring their expertise together to explore the vital role of universities in the rise of mega-science. Their joint effort sheds light on the interconnected history, present, and future of higher education and mega-science. Mega-science refers to the large-scale and collaborative nature of modern science that spans across global networks of universit...

The findings unveil a complex landscape of spatial identities marked by diversity and tensions. The European space is recognised as by far the most important space in higher education. At the same time, the Eurasian/the Commonwealth of Independent States' space(s) remain to be prominent in higher education, albeit to a varying degree in different c...

This interim report presents the initial findings of the research project, "International Mobility and World Development," which seeks to assess the systemic impact of ECA-sponsored international exchanges on both individuals and their home countries. The research project combines quantitative analysis with qualitative insights to examine the intri...

There exist large disparities globally when it comes to knowledge production with very small proportions of publications from the majority world penetrating the global science system. This paper examines the Scopus data on the funders of publications (co-)authored by individuals based in the Caucasus or Central Asia. The analysis shows that in the...

This edited volume represents a collective contribution to the current debates on developing university research capacity. The chapters in this volume offer empirical case studies from post-Soviet countries which share a common history, common policies and practices of higher education. These commonalities make the regional focus meaningful and ana...

Global society has seen a proliferation of university-based research. This volume represents a collective contribution to the current debates on developing university research capacity in post-Soviet countries which share a common history. In the last 30 years, post-Soviet countries have chosen heterogeneous pathways of socio-economic and political...

The post-Soviet countries chose different paths in terms of the organisational integration of higher education and research. There exist research universities in countries where radical reforms have taken place and also in countries where research institutes have not been merged with universities. Across the diverse region, universities remain to b...

Universities and non-university research institutes have been recognised as two key sectors producing research globally. The Soviet model of research organisation included a large network of research institutes, affiliated with the USSR Academy of Sciences and republican academies, as well as industry research institutes, affiliated with sectoral m...

This monograph explores how one of the largest geopolitical changes of the twentieth century—the dissolution of the Soviet Union—triggered and inspired the reconfiguration of the Soviet university. The reader is invited to engage in a historical and sociological sensemaking of radical and incremental changes affecting 69 former Soviet universities...

This monograph explores how one of the largest geopolitical changes of the twentieth century—the dissolution of the Soviet Union—triggered and inspired the reconfiguration of the Soviet university. The reader is invited to engage in a historical and sociological sensemaking of radical and incremental changes affecting 69 former Soviet universities...

This monograph explores how one of the largest geopolitical changes of the twentieth century—the dissolution of the Soviet Union—triggered and inspired the reconfiguration of the Soviet university. The reader is invited to engage in a historical and sociological sensemaking of radical and incremental changes affecting 69 former Soviet universities...

This monograph explores how one of the largest geopolitical changes of the twentieth century—the dissolution of the Soviet Union—triggered and inspired the reconfiguration of the Soviet university. The reader is invited to engage in a historical and sociological sensemaking of radical and incremental changes affecting 69 former Soviet universities...

This monograph explores how one of the largest geopolitical changes of the twentieth century—the dissolution of the Soviet Union—triggered and inspired the reconfiguration of the Soviet university. The reader is invited to engage in a historical and sociological sensemaking of radical and incremental changes affecting 69 former Soviet universities...

This monograph explores how one of the largest geopolitical changes of the twentieth century—the dissolution of the Soviet Union—triggered and inspired the reconfiguration of the Soviet university. The reader is invited to engage in a historical and sociological sensemaking of radical and incremental changes affecting 69 former Soviet universities...

Drawing upon French philosophy, this study offers a novel empirical and conceptual understanding of the newly launched European Universities Initiative. In 2019, higher education institutions across the European Union created 17 new alliances as part of the first pilot phase of the initiative. This is an experiment in European and global higher edu...

The ongoing pandemic has affected all aspects of human life globally. Universities have faced significant challenges in continuing their educational and research activities while at the same time becoming more visible due to their work on identifying treatments, developing vaccines, understanding the impact of the pandemic and exploring the ways of...

The world’s largest community of scientists disintegrated following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. With extremely scarce resources and limited academic freedom as starting points, researchers in this region have been creating new knowledge; they have been building on rich scientific traditions in selected disciplines and, at times, paving new...

The role of non-state providers in the provision of education has been expanding globally. However, there is a dearth of literature on the role of non-state providers in informal education, especially when delivered alongside formal education in schools predominantly under government purview. Using a mixture of methods designed with surveys and int...

Higher education offers the potential to support glonacal (global, national, and local) development. This study presents new empirical and conceptual insights into the ways in which higher education can help to achieve and exceed the outcomes enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals. Open-ended online surveys were used to learn how academics...

Higher education in (times of) crisis The coronavirus crisis has disrupted almost all domains of human activity. The United Nations (UN) recognises that the crisis exposed "deep weaknesses in the delivery of public services and structural inequalities that impede access to them". Concerns are growing that the virus will exacerbate existing social s...

This exploratory study represents the first attempt at examining the politics of exporting Russian higher education to the former Soviet countries. The existing numeric and narrative evidence on Russian universities' international branch campuses (IBCs) was gathered and systematically organized in a new dataset. The study finds that the majority of...

Higher education offers the potential to support glonacal (global, national, and local) development. This study presents new empirical and conceptual insights into the ways in which higher education can help to achieve and exceed the outcomes enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals. Open-ended online surveys were used to learn how academics...

Three decades have passed since the commencement of the largest influx of immigration in the history of the State of Israel, during which approximately one million Russian-speaking Jews from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) immigrated to Israel. Thousands of these immigrants held academic positions in the FSU and sought to continue their work in Israe...

The extraordinary expansion of higher education has not been accompanied by more equitable access to universities for various disadvantaged groups. Rural youth is at the heart of this study that draws on secondary data and literature to examine rural-urban disparities in higher education access in two high-participation systems in the Caucasus and...

Seldom have comparative studies of educational assessmentsystems been undertaken, especially regarding their standardsetting procedures. This study examines the effects of govern-ance structures on the power relations in standard setting in thedominant school-leaving or university-entrance examinations.We present acritical analysis of the published...

The International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training (IJRVET) is a double blind peer-reviewed journal for VET-related research. IJRVET is the official journal of VETNET (founded in 1996), the European Research Network in Vocational Education and Training (umbrella organisation: EERA European Educational Research Association),...

Purpose: A fundamental assumption of the apprenticeship model is that there are benefits to both employers and individual learners. This paper offers a broad conceptual interrogation of an inherent assumption in the apprenticeship model, in that it provides incentives for participation to both individual learners and employers. Approach: This stud...

There is growing international interest in how market imperatives interact with the socio-cultural and academic rationales of higher education internationalisation. This study provides new empirical material to examine the core rationales of international student recruitment in Latvia, where international students constitute 10% of the total tertia...

This chapter examines how the Russian federal government has been driving international student recruitment with attempts to force the modernization of higher education (HE) and promote soft power interests. We provide an overview of Soviet policies related to international student mobility, scrutinize the cyclic and multi-rational educational tran...

An article in The Conversation

This volume revisits the book edited by David Phillips and Michael Kaser in 1992, entitled Education and Economic Change in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. Two and a half decades later, our volume reflects on how post-socialist countries have engaged with what Kaser and Phillips called “the flush of educational freedom” (p. 13). Spannin...

An article in The Conversation

This comparative study examines apprenticeship - a globally recognized, work-based model of learning that links on-the-job training with institution-based or off-the-job training - in eight countries: Australia, Denmark, Egypt, England, Finland, Germany, India, and South Africa. The report uses documentary analysis as its central methodological app...

In the context marked by increasing competition between nation-states and universities, expanding individualization, growing influence of nonstate actors, and the new reality of Brexit, this study uses narrative and numeric data to explore the rationales of U.K. higher education (HE) internationalization, specifically motives of attracting students...

This paper examines 126 research articles from three comparative education journals to chart the development of knowledge within comparative education on the Soviet Union and post-Soviet countries. Thematic, theoretical, discursive, and methodological aspects of scholarship are linked with changing geopolitical realities in a systematic analysis of...

Raising the attractiveness of vocational education and training (VET) has been on the UK as well as the European agenda for some time, primarily for economic and social development reasons. However, little is known about the role of skills competitions in improving the attractiveness of VET. This study uses data from 110 interviews with WorldSkills...

This paper examines the entrepreneurial inclinations of young people who achieved excellence in vocational occupations. We propose a three-capital approach to the study of entrepreneurship. Relying on the existing theories and original qualitative and quantitative data analyses, findings from interviews with 30 entrepreneurial and 10 non-entreprene...

Despite expending a great deal of public money, and after many government-led ‘reforms’ to develop an apprenticeship system that rivals those found in other countries, the apprenticeship system in England still faces a number of challenges and failings, not least in the private training market. This paper explores the landscape of private training...

This project examined entrepreneurial experiences of those young people who represented the UK at WorldSkills Competitions. We aimed to understand how and in what contexts WorldSkills competitors discovered, evaluated, and exploited opportunities to become entrepreneurial. We conducted individual semi-structured interviews with WorldSkills competit...

[Please contact me for the full text of the article] Abstract: Despite the phenomenal growth in the numbers of international students, research focusing on mobile students from post-Soviet countries is still extremely scarce. This paper offers an empirical investigation and theorisation of student mobility from post-Soviet countries to contribute...

There have been extensive scholarly debates on the role the private sector in the provision of schooling across the world. The former Soviet states have been largely excluded from these debates. This exploratory study examines the role the private sector in the formal provision of primary and secondary education in post-Soviet countries to demonstr...

Education in Eastern Europe and Eurasia provides an essential reference resource to education development and key education issues in Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Academics and researchers working closely in the field cover education and educational development in Belarus, Moldova, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan Georgia and Israel. Eac...

A Report to the National Apprenticeship Service of Project 3 of the DUVE suite of projects

By evaluating the impact of policies to financially support university students in Georgia, this article demonstrates the systematic spatial disparities that exist in a context of formally equal competition. The author uses a mixed-methods design, combining quanti- tative evidence on the entire population of Georgian university applicants in 2005–2...

The study investigates the chances of gaining admission to Georgian higher education in relation to residential origin. The analysis of broad trends is combined with details from an in-depth individual-level inquiry. Quantitative data on the entire population of 150,000 applicants over the period 2005–9, together with interview data from a purposiv...

Since 2005, Georgian applicants to higher education (HE) need to accumulate competitive test scores in the Unified National Examinations (UNEs) to gain access to higher education institutions. Applicants to public as well as private universities are required to sit the UNEs. Achievement on these exams serves as the sole criterion for granting HE ad...

We view globalization as an ambivalent phenomenon. It spreads neo-liberal and managerialist beliefs in the wholesome effects of free markets around the world, but it also brings human rights based beliefs in equal opportunity to people in all corners of the globe. As these ideas spread, all three of the above models come up hard against the emergin...

The paper draws upon the findings of a mixed - methods study on spatial disparities in higher education access in Georgia. Examination of quantitative data on approximately 118,000 applicants, a purposive sample of households and policy - make rs reveals geographic inequalities in university choice - making and student destinations. Multinomial log...

სტატიაში განხილულია საქართველოში აბიტურიენტთა გეოგრაფიული წარმოშობის, სხვადასხვა უმაღლესი სასწავლებლის პირველ არჩევნად დასახელებისა და კონკრეტულ უნივერსიტეტებში მოხვედრის ურთიერთდამოკიდებულება. წინამდებარე კვლევა ეფუძნება რაოდენობრივ მონაცემებს დაახლოებით 118 000 აბიტურიენტზე, რომლებიც საქართველოს უმაღლეს სასწავლებლებში აბარებდნენ 2006-2009 წლებში....