7 research outputs found
Preventing Brain Drain: Kazakhstan’s Presidential “Bolashak” Scholarship and Government Regulations of Intellectual Migration
This article considers the Republic of Kazakhstan's internal intellectual migration within the scope of the Bolashak International Scholarship Program which aims to train highly-skilled specialists at the best universities in the world. The analysis covers mechanisms of public investment in training of highly-qualified specialists, regulatory measures to promote employment opportunities nationally and the geographical scope of internal-intellectual migration of Bolashak graduates. A survey of Bolashak graduates assesses the country’s labour market capacity and detects factors affecting migration among Kazakh youth.
The study showed that most graduates of the Bolashak program want to contribute to the development of the country, but they are not satisfied with the level of wages in Kazakhstan. Migratory moods were noted only among graduates aged 23-28 years, while older graduates aged 29 to 35 still preferred to stay at home. Moreover, among the first group of graduates, the priority was given to the standard of living in the country of destination rather than professional opportunities. Graduates from the second group were more interested in career prospects rather than in the standard of living in the country of destination
IMPLEMENTATION OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONTECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF KAZAKHSTAN:CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
Information and Communication technologies (ICT) play a significant role in the educational processbecoming a powerful tool of interaction between teachers and students; computer applications are used to presentuseful teaching resources and to improve knowledge of students.This article aims to examine the educational policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan within the framework of Informationand Communication technology implementation. In this regard, we analyze the level of computerization of schoolsand universities in Kazakhstan, the teachers’ competencies, and computer literacy of population. Based on data andinformation from official documents, reports, and official sources of education, we concluded that the Government ofKazakhstan tries to create the “digital society” and to increase the quality of education using ICT.The results of the analysis reveal that Kazakhstan make greater effort on using ICT in the education process and thepolicy is aimed at increasing the number of computers in schools, opening new specialties at the universities relatedto information and communication technologies, as well as enhancing computer literacy of the population. However,due to the lack of funding and the comprehensive work on the training and retraining of teachers, the low speed ofthe Internet in some regions of the country, this process needs to be improved
Distance learning in Kazakhstan: estimating parents’ satisfaction of educational quality during the coronavirus
This article examines the benefits and drawbacks associated with distance/online learning in Kazakhstan during the Covid-19 pandemic. The
responses of the 31,300 parents surveyed, as well as in-depth interviews
with 65 parents, are used to construct several regression models to better
understand how parents perceive the educational quality of distance/
online learning in today’s circumstances. The regression results show
that the age of the parent and the level of family income are positively
correlated with the parents’ level of satisfaction with the provided distance/online learning, while the number of children in a family is negatively related to the parents’ satisfaction with the learning process. The
study finds a statistically significant association between parents’ satisfaction with the quality of education and their assessment of teachers’
competencies, and the level of government readiness to switch to the
distance/online learning format
Migration policy in the context of global challenges: analysis of the causes of intellectual migration in Kazakhstan
This article discusses the intellectual migration of Kazakhstanis who completed their studies at foreign universities.
Based on the results of in-depth interviews with 22 Kazakh graduates of foreign universities living abroad, the motives and reasons for their moving to other countries are analyzed, the process of transforming educational migration into intellectual migration is studied, and the factors affecting the willingness of Kazakhstanis to return to their homeland are considered.
The results of the study showed that the main reasons for migrating abroad are: family circumstances, the possibility of fully applying competencies and acquired knowledge, gaining professional experience, as well as a high level of economic development, comfort and security, transparency in employment process and satisfactory wages in recipient countries.
Meanwhile, according to the study, the factors that push out highly qualified specialists from Kazakhstan are: lack of career prospects, low wages, disagreement with the current political system and climatic conditions
Exposing policy gaps: the experience of Kazakhstan in implementing distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic
Purpose – The purpose of this study is analysing the experince of Kazakhstan in implementing distance/
online learning during pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all areas of social and economic life,
including education. More than 1.3 billion students worldwide have switched to online/distance learning. In
Kazakhstan, more than 6 million active participants in the educational process are navigating this online
migration. There is significant criticism of the process among the general population, demanding scholarly
investigations into the government’s actions.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper examines the re-organization of education in Kazakhstan
during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods to uncover this included an express survey of 31,300 households, in
interviews with 65 parents, 15 children, 9 school/college/university administration and teachers and 15
representatives of the Government of Kazakhstan, and in analyses of statistical and regulatory documents.
Findings – This study finds that the government of Kazakhstan has faced significant issues in the
transition to distance/online learning due to weak internet infrastructure and a lack of effective interaction
with all stakeholders, as well as biased statistical and analytical information.
Originality/value – The pandemic has functioned as a test of government readiness for crisis and has
exposed several fault lines where official development policy has been ineffective. While the “gap” between
policy and outcome is often attributed to failures in local implementation, the unique factors at play here – an
interested citizenry and committed teachers – show that considerably more work has to be put into bringing
“best practices” fromdeveloped countries to developing ones
MIGRATION TRENDS IN KAZAKHSTAN: EXPLORING MIGRATION CAUSES AND FACTORS
The article examines the issues of emigration
of the population of Kazakhstan,
the reasons and factors influencing
the decision of citizens to leave the
country.
The results thus obtained showed that
labor migration predominated: people were
driven by the desire to earn more, to realize
their professional potential, to receive better
education and professional training. We
have also discovered that the low quality of
education and lack of favorable conditions
for the development of the younger generation
are the two other causes of the outflow
of Kazakhstanis from their homeland. The
state is not doing enough to persuade young specialists and scientists to remain in the
country, which explains the gradual increase
of intellectual migration and brain-drain.
The results brought us to a conclusion
that certain political factors, including poorly
protected legitimate rights, corruption and certain related reasons, are fairly important
for those determined to leave.
Many of those who are ready to leave,
the older generation in particular, are kept
back by family and friendly ties and the habitual
life style.
The analysis was based on the fall
2018 sociological poll results, which comprised
responses from 3,215 Kazakhstani
citizens and in-depth interviews with 143 experts
in different civil service, science, education,
and economics branches
Transforming E-government in Kazakhstan: A Citizen-Centric Approach
The paper aims to analyze digitalization policy in the Republic of Kazakhstan within the framework of e-government services implementation. While the digitalization services are innovation dissemination, the comprehensive plan is an innovation. In this paper special attention is given to the role of citizens in the process of digitalization and their satisfaction with the provision and quality of public services.
Based on results of an analysis of state programs and public surveys of the population in 2017-2019, popular sentiment was found to indicate that the Kazakhstani government placed emphasis on the digitalization of public services without adequately considering whether their actions addressed the most pressing needs of society. The state digitalization programs were aimed primarily at automating the government’s business processes and creating state information systems and databases, processes that did not directly impact the day-to-day needs of citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan. As a result, while the government’s business processes were automated, the number of documents required for many functions was reduced, and the timeframe for the provision of public services to the population was shortened, the concept of digitalization optimization itself was not fully implemented, for several reasons.
One problem leading to failures in the implementation process is using the top-down policy creation approach. Thus, the research concludes that Kazakhstan should apply the citizen-centric approach to increase the readiness of the population to use the tools of digital government and improve their satisfaction