Internationalization of Higher Education in Kazakhstan

Abstract

Over the past ten years, internationalization of higher education has become a priority in Kazakhstan's educational policy. The importance of internationalization is reflected by the increasing exchange of students and scientists, the emergence of many international programmes and collaboration of universities, increased funding for students and research projects. This work deals with the internationalization of higher education, therefore, begins with the concept of this phenomenon, explained the role of internationalization of higher education in Kazakhstan, and also discussed the changes occurring in the education system of Kazakhstan and its current state. The accession of Kazakhstan to the Bologna process, as well studied Kazakhstan's efforts for internationalization of higher education.

International students in Kazakhstan

“…Kazakhstan acknowledges the benefits of academic mobility of international students and has taken several steps to internationalize its higher education system and attract international students to come and study in Kazakhstan such as: introduced the three-cycle system of higher education: Bachelor, Master’s and PhD; aligned the national grading system with the European Credit Transfer Scheme; joined the European higher education area; established universities that teach in English (Nazarbayev University, KIMEP and Kazakh-British Technical University); and provided educational scholarships for international students from Afghanistan, China, Mongolia, Pakistan, etc. (Bekbauova et al , 2017). Despite these measures, according to the OECD (2017), Kazakhstani higher education institutions are not attractive to international students.…”