Abstract

While many states move from elite to mass higher education (HE) systems, little is known as to why some authoritarian developing states resist this transition. In post-Soviet Uzbekistan the tertiary system was consciously restricted to cover roughly 10% of the population; a situation that continued for more than two decades. This paper argues that it is the securitization of the role of HE growth that confronts the transition of HE from elite to mass systems. To support this argument, the paper analyses Uzbekistan’s HE policy and the notorious 1992 student protests that legitimized the securitization of HE expansion in the country.