THE DIPLOMA IS DEAD. LONG LIVE THE DIPLOMA: LIFELONG LEARNING LEADS THE WAY IN CENTRAL ASIA

Just twenty years ago, the educational trajectory of most people was fairly predictable: school, university, employment. A diploma served as a gateway into a profession, and a career was built within a single field — sometimes a single organisation.

Today, this model is rapidly losing relevance.

The labour market is evolving faster than educational programmes can adapt. New professions are emerging, old ones are disappearing, and many professionals change fields several times during their working lives. Artificial intelligence, automation, and global competition are making professional stability an increasingly fragile concept.

Against this backdrop, micro-learning, short-term programmes, and professional micro-credentials are gaining rapid popularity. People are no longer willing to spend years on a new qualification when specific competencies can be acquired within weeks or months. This is especially evident in marketing, digital communications, design, data analytics, project management, AI, and entrepreneurship.

Yet here lies a major misconception that many educational institutions still share. They continue to sell education as a product, while employers are not looking for certificates — they are looking for experience. A person may accumulate dozens of online courses and certificates, but if they have never delivered a project or demonstrated tangible results, the value of that education drops dramatically.

This is why internships are becoming increasingly important.

Today, a short-term internship often reads better on a CV than another training certificate. For many young professionals, an internship proves more valuable than their first full-time job. HR specialists increasingly see candidates who change jobs every three to five months — a pattern employers view with caution, uncertain whether it reflects professional growth or an inability to adapt.

Internships are different. By definition, they involve learning through practice and participating in real projects — a stage of professional development that employers understand and value.

Even more important is the portfolio. Increasingly, hiring decisions are made not on the basis of a diploma, but on a candidate’s actual work — what they have created, what problems they have solved, what results they have delivered. These questions are gradually becoming more important than a formal list of qualifications.

These changes are clearly visible in practice. Since 2015, Silk Road Media has operated an international internship programme for university students and graduates from Central Asia and the CIS in publishing, media, marketing, and the creative industries.

In its early years, the programme addressed a rather unusual challenge. Many of the professions that seem commonplace today effectively did not exist in the region as distinct career paths. There was no clear professional route for publishers (not to be confused with printing-house staff), international event managers, or cultural project managers. For many participants, the internship became their first opportunity to explore a field that had not yet emerged as a recognised profession in Central Asia.

The results have been remarkable. Within just a few years, many graduates of the programme advanced to leadership positions in publishing houses, media outlets, marketing agencies, and event companies, began working in international markets, or launched their own businesses.

The market continues to evolve rapidly. New professions are emerging that would have been unrecognisable in Central Asia only a few years ago: literary agents, AI editors, specialists in packaging intellectual products for global markets, experts in digital content and international communications. Yet alongside these opportunities come significant challenges.

Paradoxically, each year brings a noticeable decline in young professionals’ willingness to invest time in acquiring new skills. More and more students gravitate towards jobs offering immediate, if modest, income — roles where earnings begin at once, even if growth prospects are limited.

At first glance, this looks like a motivation problem. In reality, it runs much deeper.

Such behaviour reflects a growing distrust in the labour market. Many young people no longer see a clear link between effort, new competencies, and long-term career growth — particularly in Central Asia, where personal connections and informal hiring practices remain influential. Many doubt that existing corporate structures will fairly reward professional development.

There are also structural issues: the uneven quality of mass higher education, the tendency to academicise applied professions, and the graduation of specialists equipped with theoretical rather than practical knowledge — who are then unwilling to start from scratch on low salaries.

This is precisely why internships continue to gain importance. They allow participants not only to acquire skills but to immerse themselves in a professional environment, explore real career pathways, and build their first business connections. An internship becomes more than an educational tool — it becomes a mechanism for professional socialisation.

All of this connects to the broader concept of lifelong learning. Education is no longer a stage of life — it is an ongoing process. A person may earn a degree at 22, master a new profession at 30, complete development programmes at 40, and reinvent their career at 50. This is becoming the new normal.

Fundamental education is not losing its value — nobody wants to be treated by a doctor who completed a three-month online course. But even professionals in traditional fields must now update their knowledge regularly and master new tools.

This raises an important question for universities across Central Asia: should they continue focusing on issuing diplomas, or is their mission expanding to include supporting individuals throughout their entire professional lives?

The future of education lies not in competition between universities and short-term courses, but in their integration. Universities provide fundamental knowledge; businesses offer real-world projects and internships; private platforms respond rapidly to market needs. This model opens new opportunities for international cooperation.

Central Asia possesses enormous human potential, but it remains constrained by the national boundaries of its educational systems. International internships, joint programmes, cross-border micro-credentials, and digital platforms could significantly increase professional mobility both within the region and beyond.

by Taina Kaunis,
Advisor to Silk Road Media