Conducting large-scale collaborative research on higher education finance: an insider’s view

Abstract

National-level reports and programs are written annually but it is rarely possible to talk to the people who actually worked on these documents and find out the story behind them. We were lucky to interview Dr. Ali Ait Si Mhamed, one of the main investigators in the research team on higher education sustainability, who prepared a chapter in the “Development of Strategic Directions for Education Reforms in Kazakhstan for 2015–2020” diagnostic report of 2016. In the current issue, you can find the executive summary of the report but in our editorial, we want to share some insights on the project. First, we asked Professor Ali to tell us a little bit about the project and the people who worked on it before delving into Dr. Ali’s views on education in general, and various facets of Kazakhstani education system in particular. In addition to getting an expert’s view on the current situation, we were interested in the ways to improve the country’s higher education financing system. We ended our interview by asking for a few pieces of advice for young researchers who would like to work on state-level research projects.