Grown, not built: How to create a developmental university

The University of Central Asia (UCA) School of Professional and Continuing Education (SPCE) was formally launched in 2006, a whole decade before the first bachelor students enrolled. Dilovar Butabekov, director of SPCE, said the idea was to close skills gaps that limit employability and economic resilience — in other words, to go where they were needed and to act quickly. The school focuses on rural learners, women and displaced people, often in isolated areas. Where the instructor pool is small, UCA trains its own: in Afghanistan, former scholarship recipients now make up most of the employees. SPCE now runs 18 learning centres and has over 300,000 graduates across four countries.