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reported that studies related to higher educational management and curriculum
development have dominated since 1990.
Challenges to the Current Landscape and Research Level
of Higher Education
The new context of socioeconomic development and the rapid growth of the higher
education sector have introduced progress in, and challenges for, higher education.
This has resulted in innovation in the training curriculum, the use of the Bologna
system of higher education instead of the Soviet model, institutional and program
accreditations, unification of similar programs in public universities, and the credit
transfer system. With advanced information technology (IT), higher education devel-
opment, particularly the carrying out of distance and online training, was changed. In
comparison with other sectors of the economy, IT is rapidly developing in Mongolia.
However, it has also been associated with some emerging problems, such as low-
cost, low-quality education, a mismatch between demand and supply of skills, and
inequitable opportunities of access between urban and rural areas and rich and poor.
The increased involvement of the private sector in the higher educational service has
meant that curriculum development, administration, financial management, quality
assurance, capacity building, and human resource strengthening in private HEIs
have become urgent problems that must be addressed by appropriate and evidence-
based decisions. The financing of HEIs changed during the transition period; the
government budget sharply decreased, and tuition fees became their primary finan-
cial source. Indeed, HEIs in Mongolia now receive over 90% of their income from
tuition fees. Therefore, the MECS developed a strategy to transform HEIs into
research-oriented and entrepreneurial universities, which have multiple sources of
financing, such as results-based grants, development funds, research and innovation
projects, and start-up companies (MECS 2013 ).
Higher Education Research in Mongolia: Who Conducts This
Research?
In return, these changes have stimulated an increased demand for higher educational
research and have been involved in shaping which faculty members in the HEIs have
played a significant role. Higher educational research was primarily carried out by
researchers, faculty members of state-owned HEIs, and the Institute of Education
under the MECS. The Institute of Education has a sector for vocational and higher
education research, in which there are six researchers. During the transition period,
the basic legal environment of higher education in the new market economy context
was established. The Great Khural (the parliament) and the government of Mongolia
N. Sumberzul and S. Oyunbileg