Higher education is crucial for social and economic development. The four Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – are each at different stages of developing their higher education systems. The COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted education for 91 per cent of the world’s student population, including 16 million learners in the four Central Asian countries alone, has had a severe impact on higher education, as learners turn to online courses where achievement and learning are harder to monitor. This policy brief draws upon a review of UNESCO’s regional and sub-regional documents to provide key insights and explore the current context, challenges and policy options to improve equity and quality in higher education.