BKS Webinar: Universities Contributing to Societal Development: The Role of Institutional Autonomy and Academic Freedom

Panel Discussion:

It has been recognised that higher education can support global, national, and local development, leading to the outcomes enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals and going beyond those outcomes. This talk will report on national manifestations of the developmental role of universities in post-Soviet countries, with a focus on Kazakhstan. 

The talk will argue that limited academic freedom and institutional autonomy impede the full realisation of the potential of higher education. The assumptions underpinning academics’ views on how higher education can support development are discussed in the light of an innovative framework of essentialist and anti-essentialist approaches. 

Juxtaposing the national with the global development missions of universities, the talk raises questions on the possibility of delinking higher education from the immediate human capital and modernisation needs of the nation-state and becoming concerned with the global; on promoting freedom to cultivate intellectual curiosity through education and research, and stimulating a more holistic imaginary of the developmental purposes of higher education.

Moderator: 

Dr Siddharth (Montu) Saxena

Keynote Speaker:

Dr. Maia Chankseliani - Associate Professor of Comparative and International Education at the University of Oxford. She leads a flagship master’s course at the Department of Education - MSc in Comparative and International Education.

The discussion between the speakers will be followed by a live Q/A session where you will have an opportunity to communicate directly with the speakers. 

There will also be available a simultaneous language interpretation to the Russian language. 

Registration is necessary to attend the webinar, please register by pressing RSVP. Registration link will be provided a day before the webinar. Registration will close on the 26th October at 20:00.