Maia Chankseliani is Associate Professor of Comparative and International Education at the University of Oxford where she leads a flagship master’s course in Comparative and International Education. She convenes the Comparative and International Education Research Group at the Department of Education.
Within comparative and international education, Maia Chankseliani works at the intersection of tertiary education and development. She researches societal, institutional, and policy forces that shape tertiary education and the potential of tertiary education and research for transforming societies.
Methodologically, she utilises both qualitative and quantitative methods. Her work often combines secondary data analysis with insights gathered through semi-structured interviews and contextualised case studies.
Maia Chankseliani has published four books in the field of comparative and international education: What Happened to the Soviet University? (2022), Building Research Capacity at Universities: Insights from Post-Soviet Countries (2022), Comparing Post-Socialist Transformations: Purposes, Policies, and Practices in Education (2018), and Fairness in Access to Higher Education in a Global Perspective: Reconciling Excellence, Efficiency, and Justice (2013).
She currently leads a major research project examining the impact of international mobility on world development (funded by the U.S. Department of State). Maia Chankseliani has worked on a number of externally funded research projects and consultancies involving the UK Government agencies responsible for education and skills, UKRI/ESRC, British Council, World Bank, Qatar Foundation, the European Commission.
With a background in education research, teaching, policy-making, leadership, and consultancy, Maia Chankseliani brings to her role extensive experience in diverse international settings. This breadth of experience informs her research and enables her to bridge theory and practice.
Maia Chankseliani engages with governments and gives academic and policy-relevant talks nationally and internationally. Her research regularly features in national and international media.
She holds a BA in Philology from Tbilisi State University (Georgia), an Ed. M in International Education Policy from Harvard University (USA), and a PhD in Education from the University of Cambridge (UK).
Maia Chankseliani serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Educational Research.
Research
Books
Chankseliani, M., Fedyukin, I., … Frumin, I. (Eds.). (2022). Building research capacity at universities: insights from post-Soviet countries. Palgrave Macmillan.
Chankseliani, M. (2022). What happened to the Soviet University?. Oxford University Press.
Chankseliani, M. (2018). Comparing post-socialist transformations: purposes, policies, and practices in education (M. Chankseliani & I. Silova, Eds.). Symposium Books.
Chankseliani, M. (2013). Fairness in access to higher education in a global perspective: reconciling excellence, efficiency, and justice (H. Meyer, E. St. John, M. Chankseliani, & L. Uribe, Eds.). Sense Publishers.
CHANKSELIANI, M. (2009). Procrustean Decisions in Higher Education Admissions: The Case of Georgia. VDM Verlag Dr. Müller.
Book chapters
Chankseliani, M., Fedyukin, I., & Frumin, I. (2022). Introduction. In Building Research Capacity at Universities: Insights from Post-Soviet Countries (pp. 1-14).
Chankseliani, M., Fedyukin, I., & Frumin, I. (2022). Building Research Capacity at Universities: Imagining, Strategising, and Ordering. In Building Research Capacity at Universities (pp. 305-327). Springer Nature.
Chankseliani, M., Fedyukin, I., & Frumin, I. (2022). Introduction. In Building Research Capacity at Universities (pp. 1-14). Springer Nature.
Malinovskiy, S., & Chankseliani, M. (2018). International Student Recruitment in Russia: Heavy-handed Approach and Soft-Power Comeback. In A. Oleksiyenko, Q. Zha, I. Chirikov, & J. Li (Eds.), International Status Anxiety and Higher Education: The Soviet Legacy in China and Russia. CERC-Springer.
Chankseliani, M., & Silova, I. (2018). Reconfiguring education purposes, policies and practices during post-socialist transformations: setting the stage. In M. Chankseliani & S. Silova, I (Eds.), Comparing Post-Socialist Transformations: purposes, policies, and practices in education (pp. 7-26). Symposium Books.
Chankseliani, M. (2015). Rural disadvantage in Georgian Higher Education Admissions: A Mixed-method Study. In A. Mountford-Zimdars, D. Sabbagh, & D. Post (Eds.), Fair Access to Higher Education: Global Perspectives. University of Chicago Press.
Chankseliani, M. (2014). Georgia: Marketization and education post-1991. In N. Ivanenko (Ed.), Education in Eastern Europe and Eurasia (pp. 277-302). Bloomsbury Academic.
Meyer, H.-D., John, E., Chankseliani, M., & Uribe, L. (2013). The crisis of higher education access: a crisis of justice. In H.-D. Meyer, E. John, M. Chankseliani, & L. Uribe (Eds.), Fairness in Access to Higher Education in a Global Perspective: Reconciling Excellence, Efficiency, and Justice (pp. 1-11). SensePublishers.
Chankseliani, M. (2013). Higher education access in post-soviet Georgia overcoming a legacy of corruption. In Fairness in Access to Higher Education in a Global Perspective: Reconciling Excellence, Efficiency, and Justice (pp. 171-187). Sense Publishers.
Journal articles
Chankseliani, M., & Belkina, E. (2024). Academic Exodus from Russia: Unravelling the Crisis. Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 16(3).
Wang, Z., Hanley, N., Kwak, J., Vari-Lavoisier, I., Al Hussein, M., Sanchez Tyson, L., Akkad, A., & Chankseliani, M. (2024). How do international student returnees contribute to the development of their home countries? A systematic mapping and thematic synthesis. International Journal of Educational Research, 125.
Chankseliani, M., & Sopromadze, N. (2023). Listening to locals: regional spaces in higher education in the global south. International Journal of Educational Research, 122.
Chankseliani, M. (2022). Who funds the production of globally visible research in the Global South?. Scientometrics, 128, 783-801.
Lovakov, A., Chankseliani, M., & Panova, A. (2022). Universities vs. research institutes? overcoming the Soviet legacy of higher education and research. Scientometrics, 127, 6293-6313.
Charret, A., & Chankseliani, M. (2022). The process of building European university alliances: a rhizomatic analysis of the European Universities Initiative. Higher Education, 86(1), 21-44.
Chankseliani, M. (2022). International development higher education: looking from the past, looking to the future. Oxford Review of Education, 48(4), 457-473.
Yang, L., Brotherhood, T., & Chankseliani, M. (2021). A crisis of opportunity at English universities: rethinking higher education through the common good idea. Educational Review, 74(3), 591-608.
Chankseliani, M., Lovakov, A., & Pislyakov, V. (2021). A big picture: bibliometric study of academic publications from post-Soviet countries. Scientometrics, 126(10), 8701-8730.
Mohamed Anuar, A., & Chankseliani, M. (2021). The role of non-state providers in informal science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education: a Malaysian perspective. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 43(1), 189-202.
Chankseliani, M., & McCowan, T. (2020). Special Issue: Higher Education and the Sustainable Development Goals. Higher Education, 81(1).
Chankseliani, M., & McCowan, T. (2020). Higher education and the sustainable development goals. Higher Education, 81(1), 1-8.
Chankseliani, M. (2020). The politics of exporting higher education: Russian university branch campuses in the “Near Abroad”. Post-Soviet Affairs , 37(1), 26-44.
Chankseliani, M., Qoraboyev, I., & Gimranova, D. (2020). Higher education contributing to local, national, and global development: new empirical and conceptual insights. Higher Education, 81, 109-127.
Chankseliani, M., Gorgodze, S., Janashia, S., & Kurakbayev, K. (2020). Rural disadvantage in the context of centralised university admissions: A multiple case study of Georgia and Kazakhstan. Compare, 50(7), 995-1013.
Kot, V., Yemini, M., & Chankseliani, M. (2020). Triple exclusion: Life stories of Jewish migrant academics from the former Soviet Union at a contested university under siege. International Journal of Educational Development, 76.
Opposs, D., Baird, J.-A., Chankseliani, M., Stobart, G., Kaushik, A., McManus, H., & Johnson, D. (2020). Governance structure and standard setting in educational assessment. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice , 27(2), 192-214.
Chankseliani, M., & Anuar, A. (2019). Cross-country comparison of engagement in apprenticeships: A conceptual analysis of incentives for individuals and firms. International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training, 6(3), 261-283.
Chankseliani, M., & Wells, A. (2019). A big business in a small state: rationales of higher education internationalisation in Latvia. European Educational Research Journal, 18(6), 639-655.
Chankseliani, M. (2018). The politics of student mobility: Links between outbound student flows and the democratic development of post-Soviet Eurasia. International Journal of Educational Development, 62, 281-288.
Chankseliani, M. (2017). Four rationales of HE internationalisation: perspectives of UK universities on attracting students from former Soviet countries. Journal of Studies in International Education, 22(1), 53-70.
Chankseliani, M. (2017). Charting the development of knowledge on Soviet and Post-Soviet education through the pages of comparative and international education journals. Comparative Education, 53(2), 265-283.
Chankseliani, M., & James Relly, S. (2016). Three-capital approach to the study of young people who excel in vocational occupations: a case of WorldSkills competitors and entrepreneurship. International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training, 3(1), 46-65.
Chankseliani, M., James Relly, S., & Laczik, A. (2015). Overcoming vocational prejudice: how can skills competitions improve the attractiveness of vocational education and training in the UK?. British Educational Research Journal, 42(4), 582-599.
Chankseliani, M., & Relly, S. (2015). From the provider-led to an employer-led system: implications of apprenticeship reform on the private training market. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 67(4), 515-528.
Chankseliani, M. (2015). Escaping homelands with limited employment and tertiary education opportunities: outbound student mobility from post-Soviet countries. Population, Space and Place, 22(3), 301-316.
Chankseliani, M. (2014). Are we using Friedman’s roadmap? A comparative analysis of stimuli of private school enrolments in post-Soviet countries. International Journal of Educational Development, 38, 13-21.
Chankseliani, M. (2013). The financial burden of attending university in Georgia: Implications for rural students. Prospects, 43(3), 311-328.
Chankseliani, M. (2013). Rural Disadvantage in Georgian Higher Education Admissions: A Mixed-Methods Study. Comparative Education Review, 57(3), 424-456.
Chankseliani, M. (2013). Spatial Inequities in Higher Education Admissions in Georgia: Likelihood of Choosing and Gaining Access to Prestigious Higher Education Institution. Caucasus Social Science Review, 1(1).
Kwak, J., & CHANKSELIANI, M. (n.d.). International Student Mobility and Poverty Reduction:
A Cross-National Analysis of Low- and Middle-Income Countries. International Journal of Educational Research.
Reports
Kwak, J., & Chankseliani, M. (2023). Quantitative analysis international mobility and world development: estimating the system-level impact of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and international exchanges. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Chankseliani, M., Keep, E., & Wilde, S. (2017). People and policy: A comparative study of apprenticeship across eight national contexts. In People and policy: A comparative study of apprenticeship across eight national contexts (pp. 1-116). Wise Qatar Foundation.
Chankseliani, M., & Hessel, G. (2016). Case studies of the most popular European destinations for mobile students from Russia, Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia. In Centre for Comparative and International Education, University of Oxford. Centre for Comparative and International Education, University of Oxford.
Chankseliani, M., & Hessel, G. (2016). International student mobility from Russia, Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia to the UK: trends, institutional rationales and strategies for student recruitment. In International student mobility from Russia, Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia to the UK: trends, institutional rationales and strategies for student recruitment. Comparative and International Education, University of Oxford.
Chankseliani, M., James Relly, S., & Mayhew, K. (2015). WorldSkills competitors and entrepreneurship. SKOPE.
Chankseliani, M., Mayhew, K., & James, S. (2015). Benefits of developing vocational excellence: a report to the National Apprenticeship Service of Project 3 (phase II) of the DUVE suite of projects. In Benefits of Developing Vocational Excellence. A Report to the NationalApprenticeship Service of Project 3 (Phase II) of the DUVE suite of projects (pp. 1-67). Skills Funding Agency.
James, S., Mayhew, K., Chankseliani, M., & Laczik, A. (2013). Benefits of developing vocational excellence: a report to the National Apprenticeship Service. Oxford: SKOPE. In Benefits of Developing Vocational Excellence
A Report to the National Apprenticeship Service of Project 3 of the DUVE suite of projects.
Chankseliani, M., & Gugushvili, A. (2011). External evaluation of the European Training Foundation (ETF) project on vocational education & training in Georgia.
