Comparative discourse analysis of Kazakhstani universities’ organisational identity

Abstract

The present study explored the discourses adopted by the Kazakhstani universities to represent their organisational identity. It analysed the information of 30 Kazakhstani universities as found in their websites. It then compared Kazakhstani universities with their UK and US counterparts. These data revealed the discourses created by Kazakhstani universities to represent their organisational identity, and the socioeconomic factors that influenced them. A corpus-assisted discourse analysis was conducted by identifying the key semantic domains and keywords of Kazakhstani universities. Furthermore, the identified key semantic domains and keywords were analysed in detail utilising concordance analysis. In addition to the academic discourse; the organisational identity of Kazakhstani universities, involved marketing, change and managerial discourses. Kazakhstani universities construct their identity with an international outlook. The findings showed that the global trend in the marketisation of universities is relevant for Kazakhstani universities.