TOURISM EDUCATION AND HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT IN CENTRAL ASIA: ACHIEVEMENTS, CHALLENGES, AND PATHWAYS TOWARD GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS
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Tourism education has emerged as a critical catalyst for sustainable economic growth and human-capital development in emerging regions. This paper investigates the achievements, challenges, and strategic pathways of tourism education across the five Central Asian states — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan — with a focus on aligning human-capital formation with global competitiveness. Drawing upon Human Capital Theory (Becker, 1964), the Experiential Learning Model (Kolb, 1984), and the Triple Helix Framework (Etzkowitz & Leydesdorff, 2000), the study employs a mixed comparative approach combining secondary data analysis and expert interviews.
Findings reveal that Kazakhstan leads in curriculum standardization and international accreditation, while Uzbekistan demonstrates dynamic reform through its new dual-learning system (PQ-269, 2024), effectively bridging theory and practice. Kyrgyzstan excels in internationalization via partnerships with Erasmus+ and JICA, whereas Tajikistan and Turkmenistan face structural constraints due to outdated curricula and limited industry collaboration.
The study concludes that sustainable tourism development in Central Asia depends on how effectively higher-education systems cultivate skilled, innovative, and globally oriented professionals. It recommends establishing a Regional Tourism Education Network (RTEN) to promote cross-border academic mobility, competency harmonization, and collaborative research. The findings contribute to both theoretical and policy discourse on linking tourism education with human-capital competitiveness in transitional economies.
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