Chapter 6: Developing a Common Admissions System for Institutions of Higher Education: Contexts and Considerations

This chapter describes the context in which a common admissions system¹ (CAS) for universities was designed and implemented in Tajikistan in 2014. It also sets out the general principles that underpin the selection and admission of the students to institutions of higher education (HEIs). Several examples are given as to how other countries in the post-Soviet region have addressed the issue of admissions to HEIs and have introduced methods and systems specifically designed to take their own perceived needs, traditions, and resources into account.

This chapter relates to centralized examinations and CASs. Centralized examinations are set, controlled, and scored centrally, usually by a specialist organization such as the National Testing Centre in Tajikistan, and are beyond the direct influence of schools or HEIs. Such examinations produce results (scores) that can be used in a variety of ways for a number of different purposes, including the certification of graduation from secondary school (the so-called Matura exams, called Atestat in Russian and Nomai Kamol in Tajik) and the selection of applicants to the institutions of higher further education. Centralized examinations may, or they may not, be used as part of a CAS.