Chapter 5: Higher Education Admissions Regimes in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan: Difference Makes a Difference

Throughout Eurasia, nation states once part of the Soviet Union are redesigning their higher education admissions regimes. In the last 14 years, Kyrgyzstan (2002), Kazakhstan (2004), Georgia (2005), Russia (2008), Ukraine (2008), and Tajikistan (2012) have all replaced oral examinations administered by individual higher education institutions with externally administered, standardized testing (Drummond & Gabrscek, 2012).¹ In addition to changes in the type and format of admissions assessment, new selection norms and enrollment procedures have also been introduced. Higher education institutions in some Eurasian countries have even lost all discretionary power to select their own students. The rationale for the reforms in the six countries noted above has been to overcome corrupt practices that have plagued Eurasian admissions regimes since the collapse of the Soviet Union (Drummond & Gabrscek, 2012; Heyneman, Anderson, & Nuralieva, 2008; Osipian, 2007).