Like the entire country, Higher Education in Kazakhstan has been in a phase of transition for more than thirty years. One of the dimensions of this transition relates to the internationalization of Higher Education. In this contribution, we focus on home internationalization. First, we synthesize the academic literature dedicated to this question in Kazakhstan. Second, we analyze the flows of foreign students in Kazakhstan during recent years. The country has succeeded in attracting an ever-increasing number of students from neighboring countries although the total remains small compared to Kazakh students going abroad. Third, we highlight two additional strategies used to increase internationalization in the country: employment of international scholars; and the launch of foreign campuses in Kazakhstan. Finally, we discuss the use of foreign languages and especially English as a tool for local internationalization. The country has probably overestimated its capacity to make English a working language at the university level.
From the Soviet era to the present day, conceptions of Kazakh citizenship have undergone continuous transformations, notably due to changes in political regimes, shifts in the demographic composition, and economic fluctuations. Despite its tumultuous history, Kazakhstan has managed to forge a flexible approach to citizenship and relatively peaceful relationships between the county's different ethnic groups. In today's post-independence nationhood, Kazakhstan may represent a unique case of citizenship building in the context of globalization. The first part of this chapter addresses the ambiguities concerning conceptions of citizenship during the Soviet era, which were marked not only by deportations, evacuations, voluntary and involuntary migrations but also by a rhetoric that depicted Kazakhstan as the ‛Promised Land' benefiting from the Soviet Union's friendship. The second part analyzes citizenship building following the county's independence in 1991 that could be described as a subtle blend of Soviet heritage and renewed Kazakh national identity. The third part will focus on the transformations driven by the country's economic globalization and new migratory flows. Finally, the fourth part suggests that Kazakhstan's trilingual policy may open up new prospects for global citizenship education (GCE).
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