Announcements

Special Issue: Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education in Central Asia

 

Aims and Scope

The rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming higher education worldwide, influencing teaching and learning processes, assessment methods, academic administration, research practices, and institutional governance. While global scholarship on AI in higher education is expanding, Central Asia remains underrepresented in this discourse, despite facing unique opportunities and challenges related to digital transformation, access, equity, language diversity, and institutional capacity.

This special issue aims to provide a dedicated scholarly platform for examining the role, impact, and future potential of AI in higher education systems across Central Asian countries. It seeks to bring together empirical studies, theoretical contributions, policy analyses, and practice-oriented research that reflect the regional context, while contributing to international debates on educational technology and AI-driven innovation.

 

Relevance for Central Asia

Higher education institutions in Central Asia are undergoing significant reforms, including internationalization, digitalization, and quality assurance enhancement. AI technologies—such as learning analytics, adaptive learning systems, automated assessment, generative AI, and AI-supported research tools—offer substantial potential to address systemic challenges. At the same time, they raise critical questions related to ethics, academic integrity, data protection, inclusivity, staff readiness, and regulatory frameworks.

This special issue responds to the urgent need for context-sensitive research that captures how AI is being adopted, adapted, resisted, or regulated within Central Asian higher education ecosystems.

 

Suggested Topics (including but not limited to)

  • AI-supported teaching and learning in higher education
  • Generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT) and its impact on pedagogy and assessment
  • Academic integrity, ethics, and responsible use of AI
  • Faculty and student perceptions of AI technologies
  • AI for educational administration and decision-making
  • Digital inequalities, accessibility, and inclusion in AI-enhanced education
  • Policy and governance of AI in higher education
  • AI and quality assurance, accreditation, and rankings
  • Comparative or cross-country studies within Central Asia

 

Types of Contributions

  • Empirical research articles
  • Conceptual or theoretical papers
  • Case studies and best practices
  • Policy analyses and review papers

 

Important Dates:

  • Abstract submission deadline: March1, 2026
  • Submission deadline: March 30, 2026
  • Final decision: November 1, 2026
  • Publication of the special issue: December 1, 2026

 

Instructions for Submissions

Submit via the regular journal website. Next to the title of the manuscript, include “(for special issue)”.

 

Guest Editor

 Prof. Rita Ismailova

Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University, Kyrgyzstan

H Index-14

ScholarGoogle profile:

https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=OT13RN8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao