The purpose of this study is to map the literature on mental health and well-being of university students using metadata extracted from 5,561 journal articles indexed in the Web of Science database for the period 1975-2020. More specifically, this study uses bibliometric procedures to describe and visually represent the available literature on mental health and well-being in university students in terms of the growth trajectory, productivity, social structure, intellectual structure, and conceptual structure of the field over 45 years. Key findings of the study are that research on mental health and wellbeing in university students: (a) has experienced a steady growth over the last decades, especially since 2010; (b) is disseminated in a wide range of journals, mainly in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, and education research; (c) is published by scholars with diverse geographical background, although more than half of the publications are produced in the United States; (d) lies on a fragmented research community composed by multiple research groups with little interactions between them; (e) is relatively interdisciplinary and emerges from the convergence of research conducted in the behavioral and biomedical sciences; (f) tends to emphasize pathogenic approaches to mental health (i.e., mental illness); and (g) has mainly addressed seven research topics over the last 45 years: positive mental health, mental disorders, substance abuse, counseling, stigma, stress, and mental health measurement. The findings are discussed, and the implications for the future development of the field are highlighted.

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Successful transition from school to university is essential for the academic success of any student. Gifted students might encounter unique challenges due to their characteristics, and there is an evidence that a failure to adjust to the demands of university environment has a negative effect on gifted students’ academic performance, leading to underachievement. This qualitative study aimed at exploration of gifted students’ adjustment to university and issues they face within this process. We use the lenses provided by self-determination theory to further interpret the role of both internal and external motivation forces contributing to gifted students’ adjustment and achievement in higher education settings. It was identified that the gifted school and university learning environments, as well as the influence of key people (parents, peers, and teachers) played a crucial role in facilitating or impeding gifted school graduates’ sense of self-determination and consequently their adjustment and achievement. This study offers interesting insights for the understanding of gifted (under)achievement in a context where giftedness is predominantly conceived as high intelligence and academic achievement, gifted students are identified via performance-based measures, specialized schools are the preferred means for gifted education, and young people’s talents are considered invaluable for the development of the national economy and the society.

This paper analyzes the experiences of female leaders in civil service in a rapidly changing political, socio-cultural, and economic context of Kazakhstan. The research presents an analysis of the views of female managers on advantages and disadvantages of having women-leaders in civil service; on challenges and opportunities they are facing; on strategies they use to advance to and succeed in leadership positions. The important finding of this research is that female leaders in Kazakhstan are challenged with a clash of western, neo-liberal values and traditional expectations of women in the society. The analysis is based on primary data with women holding managerial positions in civil service. KEYWORDS female; leader; gender; civil service; Kazakhstan Gender policy and gender-representation statistics in modern Kazakhstan Since the early days of independence, Kazakhstan has committed to achieving gender equality. In 1998, Kazakhstan joined the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Kazakhstan has also ratified the Convention on the Political Rights of Women and the Convention on the Nationality of Married Women. In addition, international treaties on civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights have been signed. In November 2003, the government approved the Concept of Gender Policy. Several strategic priorities of the concept are related to female representation in

Using a qualitative interview approach, this study analyzes the experiences of women in academic leadership positions in post-Soviet Kazakhstan. An exploration of the extent of the relevance of Western research on female academic leadership is used to explain the experiences of female leaders in Kazakhstan. The results of the study are consistent with the results of prior studies conducted in other countries and can be largely explained by existing theories. One distinctive feature of the experiences of female leaders in Kazakhstan is the superimposition of three dominant cultures – traditional, Soviet, and Westernized neo-liberal, which impose multiple conflicting expectations. Kazakhstani women are obliged to maintain multiple identities when communicating with their colleagues, superiors and extended family members. The exact outcome of the work–life balance negotiation depends, among other factors, on the type of ownership and geographic region of a university. The study also reveals that neo-institutional theory, not conventionally used in the analysis of female leadership in academia in the West, may be particularly relevant for explaining female experiences in transitional and developing contexts; specifically, in explaining the constraints imposed by informal policy networks and corruption.