Located mostly in Central Asia (with a small portion in Eastern Europe), Kazakhstan shares borders with Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. Though it is a Russian-speaking nation, Kazakhstan has strong ties with Europe and encourages trade and educational partnerships with Western countries. Its geographical proximity to major outbound student regions (e.g., Asia, the Middle East, and Africa) represents a competitive advantage, especially because Kazakhstan is one of a handful of countries in Central Asia that is both neutral in terms of geo-political affiliations and relatively stable.

As the war in Ukraine has discouraged Western countries to trade and pursue diplomatic relationships with Russia, Kazakhstan has positioned itself as a solid alternative, a strategy emboldened by its strong oil, gas, and minerals reserves. In the past few years, Kazakhstan’s strategic location and neutral geo-political stance has attracted substantial foreign investment in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, automobiles, and food production. This investment is furthering the country’s aim to become more diversified economically.

Party to the Bologna Process

Russia was expelled from the Bologna Process in 2022, making its degrees much less attractive to students interested in having their credentials recognised globally. In contrast, Kazakhstan remains a party to the Process, and it aims to meet its international student target of 150,000 by 2029 in part through partnerships with Western institutions.

Branch campus activity heating up

Already home to 23 branch campuses, Kazakhstan will soon host several more. Universities from countries including Germany, Italy, Türkiye, South Korea, and the UK are set to open branch campuses over the next year. The conditions offered to foreign institutions are often very helpful, with Kazakhstan’s government offering financial support or even rent-free land for campuses setting up joint operations.

In addition, Kazakhstan wants to establish its own footprint in key source markets. The first Kazakhstani branch campus – expected to be Al-Farabi Kazakh National University – is in 2026.

Pakistan is among the top four source markets for Kazakhstan after India, Russia, and China.

Affordability, English-taught programmes, and visas

International students can expect to pay for undergraduate programmes, with English-taught programmes only a bit more costly ($3,000 to $5,000 USD). At the master’s level, public universities charge between . Tuition fees are higher at prestigious private universities and for specialised programmes. The number of scholarships is expanding, as is the number of English-taught programmes.

Living costs are also affordable. The range is about per year for student housing, and US$250 to 500 per month for private accommodation.

Visa rejections are rare, and visa processes and fees are reasonable. The cost of a student visa to ranges from US$50 to 150 depending on country, and many students receive visas within two weeks of applying.

Speaking with , Aray Saniyazova, head of international students and scholars services at Nazarbayev University, said:

“One thing I often hear from students is the smoothness of the visa process, even if some of them have to apply from third countries, as in the case of Nigerian students who apply from Egypt. In our experience, student visa rejections are extremely rare. In fact, we have practically had no cases of refusals for our students. This gives students a strong sense of security and confidence as they prepare for their journey. And once they arrive in Astana, many say they are warmly welcomed.”

It is safe to say that we can add Kazakhstan to the growing list of countries aiming to host more of the world’s mobile students. Within Central Asia, it stands to be the frontrunner.

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That high proportion is understandable given the two superpowers’ influence in the region and the strong economic ties that Kazakhstan has with Russia. But the geo-political shocks caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are acutely felt in Kazakhstan, which now finds itself in a very uncomfortable position: right beside Russia, but not supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

During the annual Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum in June 2022, Kazakh President Tokayev stated – while sharing a stage with President Putin – that Kazakhstan the independence of the so-called Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics in eastern Ukraine.
 
The declaration is in line with Kazakhstan’s increasing emphasis in recent years on its sovereign right to follow its own path and to enter into strategic agreements with the West if it so chooses. For example, Kazakhstan is part of NATO’s Partnership for Peace programme, though it is not a NATO member. It is entering into stronger cooperation around energy with European countries. And its education system is part of the Bologna Process that governs the mutual recognition of bachelor, master’s, and doctoral degrees across Europe.

Will Kazakh demand for Russian education diminish due to the war?

şÚÁĎąŮÍř Monitor recently surveyed a sample of established agents from the region, and they don’t see demand for Russian degrees abating yet to any great degree in Kazakhstan. Those agents noted that the tradition of students travelling across the border to Russia is so long-standing that it would be hard to dislodge quickly, even in this time of crisis. But agents also said that some students are questioning whether a Russian education, “usually possessing a solid reputation, will become increasingly isolated.”

As a result, some students are “familiarising themselves with alternatives” including the UK, US, and Canada, but also:

• Cyprus
• France
• Hungary
• Japan
• Poland
• Malaysia
• Singapore
• Turkey
• UAE

And of course, China – but then China is already a preferred destination, hosting .

If demand shifts, there is a significant opportunity

In 2018, UNESCO counted 90,333 Kazakh students abroad, . If Kazakh students become more hesitant to choose Russia as a result of geo-political tensions, that leaves a lot of demand on the table for educators in Asia, Europe, and North America. Many Kazakh students can study abroad thanks to the government-funded , which the British Council has called “the best scholarship in the world.” Many others are self-funded. Demand is strong for both undergraduate and graduate study. 

With this question in mind, we’ve compiled this market briefing on Kazakhstan – including highlights on the economy, education system, and scholarships.

Fast facts

Geography: Kazakhstan is a large, landlocked country situated almost entirely in Central Asia except for a fragment of land along the Ural River in Eastern Europe. It shares borders with two world superpowers: Russia (north and east) and China (east). Otherwise, neighbouring countries are Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country in the world.
 
Official languages: Kazakh and Russian. Russian is more widely spoken. English is becoming more prevalent as well.
 
Language of instruction: Kazakh, Russian, or both. English is a compulsory subject in the national curriculum and there are several Kazakh universities where English is the main language of instruction. However, English-language proficiency remains very low in the country. Kazakhstan places #99 of 111 countries on the EF English proficiency index.
 
Population: 19.4 million – very low given Kazakhstan’s large land mass. Close to 60% of the population lives in urban areas, including the three largest cities: Astana, Almaty, and Shymkent. Disparities between urban and rural regions are significant, including in education: PISA test results indicate that rural students are about one year behind their urban Kazakh peers in terms of their education, despite the large number of schools operating in the country’s rural regions (70% of all schools). Youth represent 22% of the population and most live in urban areas.

Religion: Muslim-majority (70% Muslim, 17% Christian)

Main student cities: Astana, Almaty, Shymkent

Academic year: September to July

Economy: Kazakhstan is an upper middle-income economy that has performed well since the 2000s, averaging about 8% GDP growth per year. It has earned a reputation as “,” and is the second strongest in the region after Russia.

The official strategic goal of Kazakhstan is to become one of the top 30 global economies by 2050. Diversifying the economy goes hand in hand with that goal. As it stands, nearly three-quarters of Kazakhstan’s exports are oil or oil-related.
 
Kazakhstan has strategic global importance, especially to countries looking to buy from alternative oil producers and/or who have nuclear programmes : it has 15% of the world’s uranium resources, making it the top uranium producer, and 3.2% of the world’s petroleum reserves, putting it in the top 10 for this resource.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine slowed the Kazakh economy in 2022 to about 3%, dragging it down in several ways, including:

• The value of the Russian rouble, which has fluctuated during the war, has a direct impact on the Kazakhstani tenge.
• Oil exports are , as roughly three-quarters of Kazakhstan’s oil exports to the West go through the Russian port of Novorossiysk via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium.
• Western sanctions on Russian companies are being passed on to the prices of goods Kazakhstan imports from Russia. Inflation has been rising despite six interest rate hikes over the past year, and the price of household staples is skyrocketing (e.g., the price of sugar nearly doubled in 2022).

Kazakhstan is a member of the (EAEU) and has extensive trade relations with Russia. But its .

A country under pressure: Increased prices due to the war represent a dangerous trend for the Kazakh government, which just over a year ago (January 2022) – before the invasion of Ukraine – faced violent public protests spurred by fuel price increases. That unrest was quelled when the Kazakh government invited the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) to send in troops for support. Just weeks later, Russia invaded Ukraine.

The Kazakh government is naturally less keen to rely again on Russian military assistance any time soon – especially since ethnic Russians make up a significant proportion of the population in some regions. Russian President Putin justified illegally annexing Crimea in 2014 by saying that his country would “actively defend the rights of Russians, our compatriots abroad, using the entire range of available means.”

Some pro-Putin political pundits in Russia have even mused about whether Kazakhstan will be the next Ukraine due to its “Nazi” elements (the same pretense used, in part, for the invasion of Ukraine). In November 2022, following Kazakh President Tokayev’s refusal to recognise the newly annexed territories in Ukraine, political analyst Dmitry Drobnitsky, a guest on the Russian state-owned political talk show an “,” said:

“Let’s note that the next problem [after Ukraine] is Kazakhstan because the same Nazi processes that were happening in Ukraine could begin there.”

He pointedly reminded listeners that “there are also many [ethnic] Russians in Kazakhstan.”

Study abroad initiatives: Kazakh students are encouraged to study abroad – and to return home with their degrees and knowledge. For example, the very generous government-funded come with a condition that students return to work in Kazakhstan for at least five years.

This scholarship programme covers the full cost of master’s and PhD students’ time abroad – as well as some residents and interns – at top 200 universities in 33 countries, and it also pays for pre-degree English-language training if necessary. It is limited to certain degree majors that correspond with priority fields and sectors determined by the Kazakh government. More than 11,000 Kazakh scholars have gone abroad since the beginning of the programme (1993) on these scholarships. Currently 1,055 Bolashak students are studying in elite foreign universities, according to :

• 555 scholarships distributed among master’s, residency, doctoral, internship programmes in seven categories
• 500 scholarships allocated for the “Scientists” internship category

Recent amendments to the Bolashak Scholarship programme reflect the Kazakh government’s increasing emphasis on adding more IT-skilled graduates to the workforce. reports that last year “the number of students enrolling to technical and IT programs increased from 36 percent to 60 percent” and that “40 new specialties in the fields of innovation, new technologies and industrial engineering, and natural science are considered as priority.” Twenty-three top-ranked universities (e.g., by QS and Times Higher Education) have been added to the list of eligible institutions, and all are focused on “technical degree programmes.” 

Another priority for the government is international partnerships. WENR reports that the government requires all universities to establish international partnerships, and that:

“By the 2020/21 academic year, Kazakhstani universities had signed nearly 6,800 agreements with international partners in 85 countries. The vast majority of these agreements were signed with institutions in other European Higher Education Area (EHEA) member states.”

Up to 70% of Kazakh students return home immediately after their studies abroad.

Where do Kazakh students choose to study abroad?

Russia hosts at least 61,000 Kazakh students right now – which may be down from 2018, when UNESCO data showed over 71,000. indicate that Russia hosts about as many Kazakh as Uzbeki students, while other data put Kazakhstan as the #1 source market. Various sources indicate that Kazakh students make up anywhere . Russia , and the Russian government says that medicine is the most popular field of study for Kazakh and Uzbeki students.

China welcomed about 12,000 Kazakh students in 2018, according to China’s Ministry of Education, making Kazakhstan the of international students in the country. Global Voices reports that the Chinese government provided at least 2,500 scholarships for Kazakh students in 2019. There are also five Confucius Institutes for promoting Chinese culture and language in Kazakhstan – a fact that underlines China’s keen interest in the country.

Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, and Czechia host over 2,000 Kazakh students, and the US hosted about 2,000 in 2021 (down 12.5% from 2020). About 1,300 Kazakh students are in the UK, Poland, and Germany, and just under 1,000 are in Canada and South Korea.

In addition to sending students out, Kazakhstan attracts more international students from around the world than any other country in Central Asia, according to . 

Education system: There are 106 higher education institutions enrolling nearly 630,000 students in Kazakhstan. The higher education system is aligned with the Bologna Process that standardises what it takes to earn a degree at the bachelor, master’s, and PhD levels across Europe.

To be eligible for entry into higher education, Kazakh students sit for a national exam, the UNT, which tests them on Kazakh/Russian, math, history of Kazakhstan, and an elective.

While the enrolment rate is high in the country across levels, foreign educators must know that many Kazakh students will require a foundation programme or English-language training before being able to succeed in a degree programme. Apart from low levels of English proficiency, Kazakh students perform relatively poorly on international student assessment tests such as PISA, and school facilities and resources are often underfunded.

Six higher education institutions in Kazakhstan are in the for 2023:

• #44: Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (Almaty)
• #96: L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University (ENU) – Astana
• #128: Satbayev University (Almaty)
• #147: Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University (Almaty)
• #162: Kazakh National Agrarian University (KazNAU) – Almaty
• #177: Auezov South Kazakhstan University (SKU) – Shymkent

For additional background, please see:

• “Russia reopens to international students”
• “Recruiting in Kazakhstan”
• “Outbound mobility from Kazakhstan up 140% over past decade”
   
   

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But more than eight in ten outbound students (83%) opt to study in Russia or in another CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) country. Maksim Kostiuchenko is a director with TravelWorks, an education agency with offices in Russia and Kazakhstan, and an authority on the Kazakhstan market. In our first video excerpt below he affirms that “Country number one is still Russia, country number two would be China, and country number three is Kyrgyzstan.” He notes as well that a majority of Kazakhstani students (up to 70%) return to their home country immediately following graduation from their programmes abroad.

In our next interview segment below, Mr Kostiuchenko provides some helpful tips for market entry. He points out that the Kazakhstan market is developing quickly and that, “We see a big potential for education providers [from additional destinations outside of Central Asia] to recruit students.”

In our final interview segment, the conversation turns to the readiness of Kazakhstani students to study abroad, with respect to language skills in particular. “Most students would require some kind of preparation in terms of language skills,” says Mr Kostiuchenko. “We are seeing a growth in the number of students who are choosing pathway programmes. Which means they are either not well prepared in terms of language our they want to immerse themselves into a new culture step-by-step – or maybe both!”

For additional background, please see:

• “Outbound mobility from Kazakhstan up 140% over past decade”
• “Kazakhstan economy driving both reforms and demand for higher education”
• “Market Snapshot: Kazakhstan”

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Education at home

Forecasts have it that up to a quarter of a million students will graduate from Kazakhstani high schools every year over the next five years. Those who successfully pass the exit examination known as the Unified National Test or UNT (sometimes alternately referred to as the United National Test) may then apply to local universities and other higher educational institutions for a chance to join the 620,000 students already enrolled in higher education.

The test is not mandatory for students who apply to foreign universities on a self-funded basis, but those seeking state-funded scholarships do need to pass it. In 2013, close to 100,000 students, or just over 70% of all graduates in that year, registered for the UNT.

Kazakhstani higher education includes universities, academies, and technical/vocational institutions. The technical/vocational sector is underfunded and the demand for places is low compared to that for academic studies. As a result, the country’s large oil, gas, and mineral-related sectors suffer from skill shortages. However, outside observers have lauded Kazakhstan’s efforts to improve all areas of higher education, including technical training. The country recently launched the World Bank-supported , which is aimed at raising the quality and relevance of technical/vocational education by better aligning curriculum with labour market needs.

Up until 2011 there were about 150 higher education institutions, 53 of which were public. The number of private universities decreased after 2011 following government reforms. Other measures tightened licensing regulations and qualification requirements, all toward the goal of raising the quality of local programmes to international standards. These changes, according to the Ministry of Education and Science, will eventually cap the number of higher education facilities at 100.

The higher education sector is evolving in its approach to instruction, but at the moment relies heavily on testing and memorisation. Kazakhstan became the 47th signatory of the Bologna Process in 2010, which has led to greater prioritisation on skills development and learning outcomes, but progress still needs to be made. Academic fraud has been a serious issue in Kazakhstani higher education, but is believed to have drastically decreased in the last few years after the introduction of various countermeasures, including .

In an effort to break with the previous system new laws are in place that will shift degree control from the Ministry of Education and Science to individual campuses. In early 2016, Kazakhstan’s Minister for Education and Science, Yerlan Sagadiyev, announced that state-issued diplomas, a legacy of the country’s Soviet past, would end in 2020 and universities would issue their own degree certificates. şÚÁĎąŮÍř Monitor has examined the Kazakhstan education market before, and details of the many ongoing educational reforms appear in our earlier coverage.

Outbound mobility

Soon after Kazakhstan achieved independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, President Nursultan Nazarbayev established programmes awarding thousands of study abroad scholarships. These helped popularise the idea of overseas learning, and today attending foreign universities is a cultural norm. The Russian Federation is overwhelmingly the most popular destination, owing to a combination of proximity, cultural and language ties, pricing and quality of institutions, and ease of admission into the educational system.

The latest UNESCO figures indicate that 66,623 Kazakhstani students were enrolled in higher education abroad in 2015, an increase of nearly 140% over the 28,249 who went abroad in 2006.

Of that 2015 total, nearly three in four (74%) chose to study in Russia. Another significant percentage (7%, or 4,535 students) were enrolled in (also) neighbouring Kyrgyzstan.

As this breakdown suggests, relatively small numbers of students currently move outside the region. Around 2,000 Kazakhstani students enrolled in US institutions in 2015, and about 1,600 chose the UK. Some students are attracted to low cost private higher education providers in the UK, particularly for MBA degrees, but on the whole price sensitivity is not as high in the Kazakhstani market as it might be.

A separate report from the indicates that China is also a major destination, having hosted 13,198 Kazakhstani students in 2015. China does not figure in the UNESCO data at all, suggesting that the total number of outbound students for 2015 may be closer to 80,000 and with the vast majority of those (84%) enrolled in three directly neighbouring countries: Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and China.

Historically, most Kazakhstani students abroad have been self-funded and have been largely drawn from the capital city of Astana as well as Almaty, the country’s largest city.

In general, students seek education information from assorted sources. University websites and international rankings carry the most weight, with officials and agents, education exhibitions such as Internationional Education Fair Kazakhstan, and national websites having somewhat less influence. Parents strongly influence the choices of their children, and tend to seek the advice of agents and other experts.

Most Kazakhstani students, especially those from rural areas, require a preparatory English programme before entering a full undergraduate course in a foreign university. English language learning has been a priority for the government since 2007, when President Nazarbayev . In his words, “Kazakhstan must be perceived in the world as a highly educated country whose population can use three languages: Kazakh as the national language, Russian as the language of inter-ethnic communication, and English as the language of successful integration in the global economy.” However, Kazakhstan’s EF English Proficiency Index ranking has never climbed above the “very poor” tier in the years since.

The government’s role

In addition to its trilingual policy, the government has intervened in other areas in an attempt to boost students’ international competitiveness. Its main programme is the Bolashak national government scholarship, which was established in 1993 to assist students in obtaining quality education abroad. The scholarship, named after a Kazakh word that means “future,” was the first of its kind in Central Asia and covers all higher education costs, including tuition, travel, living expenses, and preparatory English studies, if needed.

The programme requires all recipients to return to Kazakhstan upon completing their education and to work for five years at home. Historically at least, there has not been much in the way of demand for post-graduation employment in the country of study.

The government also funds a Bolashak Fellowship designed to give applicants the opportunity to improve their English and to conduct a portion of their academic research in a university overseas. Foreign placements last anywhere from one month to a year, and as with the broader scholarship programme, the fellowship covers the costs of preliminary English language training, if needed, in the form of a six-month English language course prior to departure.

The capacity of the entire Bolashak programme is now 3,000 recipients per year. Since 2011, it has provided scholarships for master’s and PhD programs only. In 2012, the programme expanded to cover arts, mass media, public servants, academic and medical staff, engineers, and technical workers, all toward the goal of producing the highly skilled workers needed by the local economy.

The programme currently maintains agreements with 200 educational institutions worldwide, including 49 in the United States. By the year 2020, the Kazakhstani government hopes that at least 20% of learners, either via scholarship or self funding, will spend at least one academic semester abroad.

The Chinese connection

Traditionally, Kazakhstani students have looked West for schooling, including to Russia. However, and as the earlier figures for 2015 will illustrate, an increasing number are eyeing China as well. The Chinese government has promoted the country as a study destination strongly in recent years, including through the opening of Confucius Institutes to promote Chinese language and culture in Central Asia. The more-than-13,000 Kazakhstani students in China in 2015 represent .

Earlier this year Dariga Nazarbayeva, deputy prime minister and daughter of the president, publicly endorsed teaching Chinese to Kazakhstani children in addition to Kazakh, Russian, and English. “In the near future,” she said, “we all need to know Chinese.” With China’s share of investment in the Kazakhstani economy growing and its education push ongoing, signs point to China garnering an even larger share of Kazakhstani migration in upcoming years.

The Kazakhstan government has welcomed China’s efforts, and indeed has encouraged greater overall foreign involvement in the higher education sector. All universities are now required to maintain and increase international partnerships as part of the national strategy for quality improvement. A number of English-medium universities, including Kazakh-British Technical University established in 2000, are now on the scene, and prestigious brands such as Geneva Business School have also set up shop in Kazakhstan.

Future outlook

As with other countries whose economies are reliant upon oil extraction, Kazakhstan’s national coffers have taken a hit during the last two years. The oil and gas sector accounts for about 60% of the country’s export revenues and 10% of overall GDP. After almost two decades of growth, the economy is experiencing tougher times due to low commodity prices, the depletion of reserves, and economic contraction or slowdown in two major trading partners in Russia and China.

Though there are many higher education institutions in Kazakhstan, most are in Almaty, the largest city, located in the far east of the country, making . The capital, Astana, is a planned city that is more centrally situated, but concerns about disparities in education equity and quality have been raised by some observers. Socio-economic disparities between urban and rural areas may persist as long as education providers concentrate in the population centres.

In the years ahead, Kazakhstani authorities wish to turn the country into one of the most developed in the world. The potential human capital will be there: the country’s population will , and at the end of that time 70% of the population could be living in urban areas, where higher education is centred. Long term success will depend on several factors – not least a political situation in the non-democratic nation that looks considerably more liquid than it did a few years ago – however, diversification of the economy will be the main factor, and for that the higher education sector will prove key.

As the population grows, and the economy expands, we can expect continued growth in outbound mobility as well. The number of college-aged students will expand considerably over the rest of this decade. The question that hangs over that growth is will the bulk of those outbound students continue to study in the region, or will growing numbers also begin to look at destinations further afield?

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The last time we checked in on Kazakhstan, the country was driving ahead with plans to increase student mobility, enabled in part by its signing on to the Bologna Process and the evolution of its Bolashak Scholarship programme. Since then, the Kazakh government has fine-tuned its goals for mobility and education, increasingly aware that vocational training can fuel the sort of growth it wants to see for the country.

According to UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics, 43,039 Kazakh students studied abroad in 2012. By far the top destination was Russia (29,518), followed by Kyrgyzstan (4,357), the UK (2,014), and the US (1,877).

The Bolashak evolves and improves

Over the course of more than a decade, the Bolashak programme has sent over 11,000 Kazakhs abroad to study and has become increasingly well regarded; in 2014, it was named as the best scholarship programme in the world at the Going Global International Conference in Miami.

The programme is notable for many reasons, including close alignment with the evolving needs of the Kazakh economy and close collaboration with industry. Students’ tuition, insurance, and accommodation costs – as well as living expenses and travel costs – are all covered under the programme; in return, students pledge to return to Kazakhstan for at least five years of continuous employment following their studies.

The programme has changed substantially in recent years. In 2011 it began focusing intensively on those pursuing masters and PhDs in priority specialisations, dropping the more general bachelor’s degree from its consideration. In 2012 it expanded its specialist categories: today, arts and mass media industry professionals, public servants, academic and medical staff, engineers, and technical workers are eligible for the scholarship. PhD scholarship holders are now able to spend 12 months prior to starting their programme studying a foreign language. As of 2015, Kazakhstani masters or doctoral degree-holders can also access the programme for advanced studies abroad.

Along with a new focus on developing specialists required for the Kazakh economy, quality controls have become more stringent in the last couple of years. Candidates now require an IELTS score of 4.0 (up from 3.0) and a Kazakh language score of 85 points (from 75). Successful candidates can now only choose from an exclusive set of foreign institutions: those placing in the Top 200 in QS, Times Higher Education, and Shanghai international rankings, in the Top 30 for national rankings, as well as in the QS 50 under 50 and the Times Higher Education 100 under 50 rankings.

Goals for internationalisation, and areas of growing demand

Internationalisation and international cooperation have become key priorities for Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Education and Science (MES). As of 2011, it had signed at least 124 international agreements with foreign countries and over 8,000 agreements with higher education institutions.

All Kazakh universities are now required to build international partnerships to show they are committed to quality improvement, international benchmarking and research cooperation.

A few years ago, the government released its Academic Mobility Strategy in Kazakhstan 2012-2020. The strategy includes these goals:

• To greatly increase its capacity both to host students from abroad and to send more of its own students, staff, and faculty overseas on mobility programmes;
• To increase the number of Kazakh students with foreign language ability;
• To grow the number of international cooperation agreements between Kazakh and foreign institutions;
• To increase the number of international students studying in Kazakh universities by 20% annually through 2020.

The Bolashak Scholarship programme alone will help with such goals, but it is important to note that Bolashak scholars are far outnumbered by those who are privately funded. In our last article on Kazakhstan, Zulfiya Assilbekova, the deputy director of Globus Education, an education agency based in Almaty with three branch offices elsewhere in Kazakhstan, estimated that 30% of Kazakh students abroad are on scholarships, and about 70% are self-funded.

The self-funded group is important to higher education institutions that do not meet the Bolashak programme’s criteria (i.e., do not place highly enough in the rankings mentioned earlier in this article and/or offer mostly bachelor’s degrees). Those institutions that offer needed and high-quality programmes might well find a ready audience among Kazakh students looking for jobs in their specialised economy.

Here, data from the Bolashak programme is useful. :

“According to statistics, the most popular specialities among applicants for the Bolashak Scholarship are state policy, political science, public administration, pedagogy and psychology [and] accounting and auditing. Finance and economics are among the technical specialties applicants actively submit for the oil and gas business. The list also includes petrochemicals and petrochemical synthesis, the development of oil and gas, computer science, information technology and systems, information security, computing equipment and software. A public health major is prevalent among medical staff.”

In addition, it looks like vocational education will play a growing role in fuelling the country’s specific labour requirements – as is the case in ambitious economies across the globe. A report published by the government of New Zealand, Kazakhstan: A Market Research Study, notes:

“The technical and vocational education system remains underfunded and the demand for places is low compared with that for more academic studies leading to university education. The oil, gas and mineral related sectors have skill shortages and invest to meet their specialist training requirements.”

The MES has a that includes these priority areas “to ensure access to quality education for sustainable economic growth”:

• Educational provision in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and higher education (HE);
• Educational consulting;
• Educational technology, resources and equipment;
• English language training;
• Qualifications and curriculum planning;
• Teacher education and “train-the-trainer” programmes.

This list again underlines the significant opportunities to recruit Kazakh students for study abroad and/or to establish partnerships with Kazakh institutions to help meet demand for such areas.
English language training is also an area with rich potential. Kazakhstan: A Market Research Study notes that:

“Most Kazakhstani students require some form of preparatory programme before entering a full undergraduate course in a foreign university; typically the need is for English language study combined with discipline-specific courses. At a master’s level most foreign universities accept students with first degrees from Kazakhstan direct to their programmes, although the large majority will require pre-programme English language study.”

How to reach Kazakh students

Kazakh students research study abroad options in much the same ways as students in other countries (that is, via websites, university rankings, social networking sites, education exhibitions and fairs). They are also heavily reliant on trusted teachers, agents, and particularly parents. Kazakhstan: A Market Research Study, notes:

“Parents have a strong influence on privately funded students and typically will seek the advice of agents and others they consider to have expert knowledge of the intended destination country and institution.”

The Kazakh agent we spoke with for our previous report also stressed the importance of parents. “Parents are the decision makers,” she noted, and she recommended that educators visit Kazakhstan in person for school appearances and to connect directly with students, parents, and agents.

The New Zealand market report recommends that any campaign hoping to reach Kazakh students “should reinforce the high international standing of its universities; demonstrate employability of qualifications; profile individual successes, including for Kazakhstan students; and promote an attractive, secure and exciting life style.” It also recommended visits to Kazakhstan by senior officials/academics, new scholarships for Kazakh students, and the identification of trusted Kazakh agents.

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Strong economic growth and market liberalisation have placed Kazakhstan on the radar of international educators for some time now, and mobility is further fueled by the government scholarship support for outbound students as well as the country’s more recent commitment to the Bologna Process. Recent reforms in the tertiary sector, including the consolidation or closing of under-performing higher education institutions and reforms to university governance, point to an even greater shake-up currently underway in Kazakhstan’s higher education landscape.

Kazakhstan today

Kazakhstan was the last of the former Soviet republics to declare independence in 1991. President Nursultan Nazarbayev has been in power ever since. The country pursues a moderate “multivector” foreign policy, maintaining strong relations with neighbouring Russia and China, as well as with the United States and the Western world. It has worked hard to develop its economy, primarily through its rich oil and gas reserves.

The country is home to a diverse population. Around 63% of the population is ethnic Kazakh, with large numbers of Russian, Ukrainian, German and other ethnicities. Islam is the religion of around 70% of the population. The country’s largest city and its economic centre is Almaty; its capital city, as of 1997, is Astana.

Kazakhstan has one of the strongest economies in Central Asia. Supported by rising oil prices, the economy grew by over the past decade. The country is home to 3% of global oil reserves and . Other major exports include wheat, textiles, livestock, and uranium.

Kazakhstan was also to the International Monetary Fund (a full seven years ahead of schedule). On the strength of a robust economic outlook and improved fiscal outlook, the country rose from 72nd to 50th in the Global Competitiveness Report between 2010/11 and 2011/12.

The education system

After 1991, Kazakhstan’s transition from a Soviet to a free market economy sent shockwaves through the higher education system. Post-independence, the number of higher education institutions ballooned, from 55 state institutions in 1990 to 182 public and private institutions by 2001.

Concerns with quality, competitiveness, and mobility have prompted a number of key reforms in the past two decades, including:

• the re-structuring of the tertiary system;
• the reduction of the number of higher education institutions;
• a focus on improving quality and governance;
• a commitment to deepening internationalisation.

Secondary education is free and in principle compulsory for Kazakh students, and the transition to a 12-year education system at the primary and secondary levels is expected to be complete by 2015. The Kazakh system employs standardised exams both for assessing secondary school leavers as well as for university admissions. UNESCO summarises the current exam system as follows:

“A National Centre for State Standards in Education and Testing (NCSSET), established in 1993, was initially aimed at external assessment of academic achievements of students at entrance exams to higher institutions. Since 2004, external assessment upon graduation from school has been combined with entrance exams to higher institutions, which has been recognised as positive to get a more objective picture of the level of academic proficiency of students. When entering higher institutions on a competitive basis, students are assessed based on their Unifies National Testing (UNT) and Entrants Complex Testing (ECT) results. UNT ensures a combination of final state certification of school-leavers and entrance exams to secondary and higher vocational learning institutions. ECT is conducted for graduates of secondary schools, who graduated prior to UNT adoption, for secondary school graduates who studied abroad in the framework of international student exchange, secondary school graduates with Uzbek, Uighur and Tajik languages of training, graduates of music boarding schools as well as those who graduates from foreign institutions.”

The Law on Education (1999) provides a general framework for higher education development in Kazakhstan. In 2004, a new law was passed to strengthen the integrity of the system. It also increased technical requirements at universities, paved the way for the introduction of PhDs, and introduced new university management practices. A subsequent amendment in 2007 was adopted to further reform the tertiary system and bring the Kazakh higher education system into the Bologna Process, most notably aligning Kazakh qualifications with European bachelors, masters, and doctoral standards.

Largely due to these reforms, and the more stringent quality controls they introduced, the number of higher education institutions has shrunk to 131 state, private, and special status universities by 2014 – with more consolidations and closings planned for the years ahead.

In the 2012/13 academic year, there were 571,691 students in bachelors programmes at universities in Kazakhstan, a decrease from the 633,814 reported for 2008/09. The number of masters students, meanwhile, more than doubled (to 25,299 from 11,395) during this period, while the number of PhD students nearly quadrupled (to 1,517 in 2012/13).

A growing emphasis on internationalisation

Internationalisation and international cooperation have become key priorities for the Ministry of Education and Science (MES), with 124 international agreements signed between the MES and foreign countries and over 8,000 agreements signed by the HEIs themselves as of 2011. The decision to implement reforms in line with Bologna has been a major plank in the country’s internationalisation process and anchors a number of key goals outlined in Kazakhstan’s international mobility strategy.

The Academic Mobility Strategy in Kazakhstan 2012-2020 outlines several calls to action for Kazakhstan:

• to greatly increase its capacity both to host students from abroad and to send more of its own students, staff, and faculty overseas on mobility programmes;
• to increase the number of Kazakh students with foreign language ability;
• to grow the number of international cooperation agreements between Kazakh and foreign institutions;
• to increase the number of international students studying in Kazakh universities by 20% annually through 2020.

Currently, Central Asia plays a small role in global student flows, with students from the region representing only around 2% of outbound mobile students globally. Most international students studying in Kazakhstan are from within the region itself. According to recent figures provided by UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics, 43,039 Kazakh students studied abroad in 2012, while the country hosted 8,982 students in return, mainly from neighbouring countries. Perhaps not surprisingly, a notable majority of outbound Kazakh students study in nearby Russia, with an estimated 30,000+ Kazakh students in Russia in 2013.

Students who study in Russia are usually attracted to universities in Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, and Omsk. These later three cities are well known for science studies and research.

Zulfiya Assilbekova is the deputy director of Globus Education, an education agency based in Almaty with three branch offices elsewhere in Kazakhstan. She adds that more and more, there is a growing middle class who really looks at the value of the education overseas, and the quality of the programmes offered. In her observation, the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand are among the most popular destinations outside the region, and Mrs Assilbekova notes that Globus also sends students to EU countries as well as Malaysia.

Other experts in the field, such as Professor Geoffrey David Wilmoth, director of the consulting firm Learning Cities International, feel Kazakhstan is poised to position itself as an international education hub in the region. In his 2011 paper Central Asia’s future role in international higher education, Mr Wilmoth says strong government investment in the sector, a raft of recent reforms, Kazakhstan’s strategic location, and the development of new international-standard HEIs, such as Nazarbayev University, all bode well for Kazakhstan’s ambitions to play an increased role in education in the region.

Expansion of scholarship programmes

One of the country’s signature developments in the education sphere in recent decades has been the ambitious Bolashak scholarship programme. Bolashak (or “Future”) has provided awards to over 10,000 students since its inception in 1991. The programme’s aim is to train specialists in critical subject areas (primarily science, technology, and engineering fields) in order to help the country build international relations and to address Kazakhstan’s .

The Bolashak programme has witnessed a number of evolutions over the years, including the introduction of awards for undergraduate degrees in 2005, and a subsequent phasing out of these undergraduate awards in 2011 in order to focus on graduate programmes and professional training. Funding for professional non-degree training was recently introduced as well. Currently, scholarships are awarded for graduate programmes for study at one of top 200 universities around the world. In return, Bolashak alumni pledge to return to Kazakhstan for at least five years of continuous employment following their studies.

In 2005, the Centre for International Programmes () took over administration of the Bolashak awards. CIP works in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Science and the Republican Commission. The Commission’s role is to decide priority majors, finalise programme regulations, and make final award decisions. Recently, quotas for applicants from rural areas of the country have been introduced, with special outreach to students in rural and remote parts of the country.

Mrs Assilbekova estimates that about 30% of students abroad are on scholarships, and about 70% are self funded. She emphasises the key role that parents play – “Parents are the decision makers,” she notes – and recommends that educators visit Kazakhstan in person for school appearances and to connect directly with students, parents, and agents.

Short-term mobility also on the rise

Another key plank in Kazakhstan’s internationalisation strategy has been the deepening of academic mobility schemes, primarily within Europe. Kazakhstan became a signatory to the Bologna Process in 2010 and has since ramped up efforts to encourage outbound mobility within the tertiary sector.

One core strategy has been the introduction of the Academic Mobility Scholarship programme in 2011. The programme aims to support 300 students in state or national universities to complete part of their masters degrees abroad at an institutional partner university. So far, most have chosen to study in the former Soviet Union, but a broadening of the programme, and transfer of responsibility to the CIP in 2015, aims to direct students further afield.

By 2020, the government hopes that at least 20% of learners will spend at least one academic study period abroad.

Focus on quality, governance reform

In order to improve quality within the tertiary sector, Kazakhstan’s parliament last year announced plans to . The five-year plan would see the number of universities cut from about 150 to close to 100 through mergers, downgrading, and closures. The number of HEIs in the country has been an ongoing concern, with earlier rounds of cuts in 2008 and 2012 reducing the figures from a high of nearly 300 institutions. The current plan calls for Kazakhstan to have 40 state, 45 private, and 13 military universities. A National Public Reform Council has been struck by the government to oversee this streamlining process.

According to Rahman Alshanov, president of the Association of Universities of Kazakhstan, and a member of the National Public Reform Council, consolidating tertiary institutions will help improve competition and specialisation.

“The first factor is competition, and ‘dumping’ [of university graduates] on the educational market,” he said. “The second factor is personnel. Employers want skilled specialists, which is why we have so many universities.”

In another series of reforms, Kazakh universities will be granted more policy-setting freedom by 2016. These changes will allow universities to respond to market demand by implementing programmes and courses of their own choosing. Institutions will also be permitted to select vice-presidents and provosts.

Rapid changes create new opportunities

The rapid pace of change in Kazakhstan’s tertiary sector and the country’s focus on international cooperation has provided new opportunities for cross-border cooperation. In one recent example, education market development company “TVET UK”, working with , an industry-focused university sector college, was selected to deliver the design element of the Kazakhstan government’s high profile “World Class College” initiative. The initiative will provide high quality specialist technical training and education through two new state-of-the-art colleges in Almaty and Astana. Launching in October 2015, the colleges will offer curricula and qualifications based on UK models.

With Kazakhstan’s focus on growing capacity at home, attracting larger numbers of international students, and sending more of its own students abroad, examples of this type of collaboration should only increase in the years ahead.

In the meantime, Kazakhstan provides an interesting case study as a country transitioning from centralised, Soviet rule to a relatively open, market-based economy where tertiary education plays a strategic role in increasing national development and enhancing the nation’s profile abroad.

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