Upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Turkmenistan did not abandon the centralized management style. The country does not hold a membership with many international organizations, coalitions, and unions, including the World Trade Organization and the Bologna Process. The liberalization process of the economy remains slow. The Republic’s higher education institutions (HEI) can be divided into the following types: university, academy, institute, and conservatory. Universities offer a wide range of programs, including graduate programs. Academies offer graduate programs in special fields, whereas institutes provide graduate programs in specific professions. Of 24 HEIs, there are 6 universities, one academy, 16 institutes, and one conservatory. Over the course of the last several years, Turkmenistan has created new institutions such as the International University for Humanities and Development (IUHD) in 2014, Oguzkhan University of Engineering and Technologies. The governance of the HE system is centralized as the state plays a major role in regulating and governing the vast majority of HEIs’ activities. In other words, HEIs have strictly limited autonomy.

Moldova is a country of approximately 3.55 million people. From 1990 to 2015, it lost 21 percent of its population. Moldova is a lower middle-income country making it one of the poorest in Europe. However, following the global financial crisis in 2008-09, its economy had been one of the fastest growing in the region averaging 4.5 percent growth from 2010 to 2017. The university sector in Moldova consists of 19 public and 10 private universities. They enroll 55,700 students and 9,800 students respectively (65,543 total) (NSB 2018). The average enrollment is less than 2,000 students for all but two of the public universities; Moldovan State University and Moldovan Technical University each enroll approximately 10,000 students. The primary governing body of Moldovan universities is the Senate, which is codified in national statute as that which represents the supreme management body. There is a second governing body, the Strategic and Institutional Development Council (SIDC), that on some organizational charts appears on the same level as the Senate and has some authority over the rector. These two bodies have coordinated responsibilities.

This book is about the post-Soviet context and the countries within it. The work was written between 2000 and 2022. We are finishing this book at the very beginning of the Russian military assault of Ukraine. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union three decades ago, no other single action has the potential to reshape this part of the globe.

We ground this book in the dissolution of the Soviet Union and what that political change meant for the fifteen countries with newfound independence and for their universities. The book repeatedly references the Soviet Union and treats it as an artifact of the past from which to look forward from. The Soviet Union colonized much of this region and left a lasting imprint, much positive but also like other colonial efforts, much of it negative, negating local language and culture, and impacting individual lives. However, it established a common university system, and from this point this book begins.

Chapter 7 addresses key global and local (macro and micro) ethical dilemmas when working with children, particularly when they are in active roles. It outlines generic ethical issues relevant to research with under-18s and addresses ethical issues when moving from research ‘on’ and ‘about’ to research ‘with’ and ‘by’ children. As well as addressing the origins and main dilemmas of child-focussed ethics, the chapter evaluates several existing international ethics guidelines for research involving child participants that are potentially relevant for applied linguistics, drawing out challenges, opportunities and tensions. It revisits the key messages of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as a point of reference for ethical research practice, addresses the process of securing child consent or assent and discusses good practice when securing permissions from other stakeholders. Ethical issues, specifically when working with multilingual children and families, are covered as well as how ethical guidelines must be sensitive to cultural, social and contextual circumstances, making reference to issues in different contexts, including those in the Global South.

After gaining its independence in 1991 from the Soviet Union, Ukraine implemented liberalization and modernization reforms. The country has an important strategic geopolitical position as it is on the crossroads of major transportation routes from West to East. During the first decade of its independence, Ukraine underwent a fundamental transformation from totalitarian government towards a democracy; and from command economy to market oriented one. It is classified as a lower-middle-income country and has an industrialized economy. After joining the Bologna Process, the government introduced several changes such as the creation of Supervisory Boards, the election of the rector rather than governmental appointment, and increased levels of university autonomy. The two authoritative bodies in public universities are the Academic Board, a collegial body of a HEI set up every five years and the Supervisory Board with external members that exists to oversee the institution’s assets management and mission.

Georgia is a country of approximately 3,716,900 people. Nearly 32% of the population lives in Tbilisi. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Georgia experienced an economic collapse unprecedented amongst its fellow post-Soviet states. However, Georgia has done well economically in the past decade, demonstrating a strong commitment to economic reform. Since the 2003 Rose Revolution, Georgia has positioned itself as a “pro-Western” country. In 2014, Georgia signed an Association Agreement with the European Union, and the country has repeatedly declared its intention of becoming an EU member. There are 64 higher education institutions in Georgia, 19 of which are public. Tuition fees, which are capped at the maximum state study grant amount, account for 90% of the total income of public HEIs. The 2004 Law “On Higher Education” grants autonomy to public HEIs, allowing them to develop their own study and research policies, elect management bodies and officials, and manage their finances. The highest governing body of public HEIs is the Academic Council. The rector, who is elected by the university, chairs the council.

The chapters profile the ways in which fifteen countries of the former Soviet Union are approaching governing their universities and what governance structures they put it place to undertake this essential task. What do they have in common? How are they different? Four different models emerged, that we lable academic focused; state-extended; internal/external; and civic. The models reflect notions of power and autonomy, and the levels of state control versus independence. The ways in which an organization, and in this case the university governance body, is structured shapes what information is collected and how it is sorted, transmitted, and made available; the ways decisions are made including which decision makers come together under what opportunities and constraints, and the ways in which decisions are addressed and actions taken. Organizational structure both determine outcomes and are shaped by external forces and beliefs.

Lithuania is a high-income country. Trade in goods and services contribute about three quarters of Lithuanian GDP; industry contributes 26 percent; and agriculture three percent. The university sector consists of 14 public and 8 private universities that offer Bachelor’s degrees and higher. There are 13 public and 11 private colleges that award Professional Bachelor’s degrees. There are about 150,000 students enrolled. The University Council is a governance body of a university. The University Council should consist of 9 or 11 members. One member is nominated by students. Three or four members of the Council are nominated by the academic staff. Four or five members who are not affiliated with the university are selected in the procedure laid down by the Senate. The remaining three or four members are selected through an open competition.

Chapter 4 explores how schools can embrace participatory research with children or child-led research, first exploring the concept of child- or learner-centredness. Child-centred research is linked to child-centred and early childhood education, to participatory research in an emancipatory sense, such as that inspired by Freire (1972, 1974), and rooted in the key articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) emphasising children’s voice and rights. Child-centredness is also congruous with democratic working patterns and autonomous ways of learning (Little et al., 2017), with autonomy-promoting schools driven by the core principles of self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2021) and alternative inquiry-based pedagogies (Hatch, 2014; Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2009). Institutions that embrace a child-centred approach to teaching and learning and take student voice and rights and a democratic way of working seriously will accommodate child-led research or research with children more easily and meaningfully. The alternative framework for research with children promoted in this volume is revisited to tease out the main opportunities and challenges associated with it.

Before 1991, the now independent nations had a common university system, structure and philosophy guided by the ideas of a planned economy and direct State control. The dissolution of the Soviet Union brought about a unique opportunitie for post-Soviet universities. However, they had to face if not overcome the Soviet legacy. This chapter explores that legacy. To understand univeristy governance’s current structure and the extent to which these structures evolved in common and uncommon ways, it is crucial to understand the Soviet context and its legacies impacting higher education. History shapes organizational structures but also organizational identities.

Russia’s population is more than 146 million, three-quarters of which live in cities. Russia is a federal presidential republic.. From 1990 to 2002, key sectors of the economy lost up to one-third of the total number of employees: the industrial sector (about 36 percent), agriculture (20 percent), construction (23 percent), and transport and communications (16 percent). These changes in the labor market resulted in reducing the demand for natural science training with higher education and have led to a decrease in the popularity of engineering universities. The higher education sector is very large and very diverse. As of 2018-2019, the higher education system consists of 496 state universities, including ten federal universities, 29 national research universities, and 247 non-state and private universities. The current higher education governance model in Russia results from the transformation period of the entire higher education system following the dissolution of the Soviet system. The primary decision-making body is the Academic Council, headed by the rector. However, many universities have newly established but advisory Board of Trustees or Boards of Overseers.

The Republic of Tajikistan is a small landlocked country located in south-eastern Central Asia of 9.12 million people. During the civil war of 1992-1997the economy and much of the educational infrastructure was destroyed. Even though the share of state budget resources and other investments in education is gradually increasing, the economy’s competitiveness remains low. The economy is heavily dependent on labor migration to Russia and remittances, which affects the demand for labor, including the domestic demand for professional skills, competencies, and knowledge, and employment opportunities for university graduates. The Tajikistan education system inherited a highly centralized and unified system of education that required substantial reforms. By 2018-2019, 40 state higher education institutions enrolled 209,800 students. The Government of Tajikistan is striving to integrate its higher education system into European higher education and actively pursuing the Bologna Process. The country’s universities have limited autonomy from direct governmental oversight. Higher education institutions have Academic Councils, and are chaired by the rector appointed by the government.

Chapter 1 introduces my personal motivation to write this book, outlines where the gap is in the child second language literature and why it would be desirable to complement the currently largely adult-focussed research by incorporating children’s views and perspectives, in particular by encouraging more active roles for children in research. Some basic premises and key terms are outlined.