Signs of Democratization? Online Student Protests in Uzbekistan

Today’s episode features a conversation about the development of Uzbekistan’s higher education system since a change in government in 2016, looking at the parallel trends of internationalization and democratization seen through the government’s response to student protests that occurred online in the summer of 2020. Our guest and expert on these issues is Dilnoza Ubaydullaeva, who is originally from Uzbekistan and is currently a PhD candidate, Sessional Academic and a Learning Advisor at the Australian National University. Dilnoza is also a Fellow of UK Higher Education Academy. Previously Dilnoza has worked as a Lecturer in Uzbekistan's higher education system.  Her research focuses on internationalization in Uzbek higher education, as well as relationships between education, civil society, and democratization, topics which we’ll discuss today in the context of the question of how higher education impacts democratization, and vice versa. She is originally from Uzbekistan, where she achieved a masters in English Linguistics from Uzbekistan State World Languages University, and later completed her second masters in International Studies at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. UNESCO Data - Education Enrollment Rates in Uzbekistan Dilnoza Ubaydullaeva. (2021). Student online protests in Uzbekistan: democratization of higher education as concomitant to the COVID-19 crisis? Central Asian Survey, 40(3), 382-399. Dilnoza Ubaydullaeva. (2022). Ideological discourses in post-Soviet Uzbekistan: internationalisation of higher education as a threat. Journal of Political Ideologies, DOI: 10.1080/13569317.2022.2104996.  Dilnoza Ubaydullaeva. (2020). "Franchise" Branch Campuses in Uzbekistan: The Internationalisation of Higher Education as a Solution? Central Asian Affairs, 7 (2), 152-174.