Traditionally, Kazakhstan wasn’t on the radar of worldwide college students, with the US, UK, Canada, and several other European nations historically remaining the highest locations. An unlimited, post-Soviet nation in Central Asia actually wasn’t thought of a go-to vacation spot amongst worldwide college students, even inside the area, the place nations like Russia, China, Japan, and South Korea have lengthy been the leaders.
Nevertheless, in recent times, Kazakhstan has develop into far more common with people trying to research overseas. A lot in order that worldwide college students within the nation have reached report numbers.
There are a variety of things behind this improve, one being the Russia-Ukraine battle. For many years, Russian universities have been the establishments of selection for these within the Russian language, literature, or Russian and Eurasian research; significantly for these from the US, Europe, and East and South Asia.
With Russia changing into remoted on the worldwide educational stage, a rising variety of these people are selecting to pursue increased training in Kazakhstan; a Russian-speaking nation with more and more rising world connections. Kazakhstan has a shared linguistic and cultural historical past with Russia, however gives an accessible, protected, and internationally-minded setting, in distinction to Russia’s visa points, banking restrictions, and safety issues.
Kazakhstan is seen as a secure, impartial, and protected different for college kids from different nations going through geopolitical upheaval
Its geographic proximity to Asia, Africa, the Center East, and Japanese Europe can be a draw, alongside decrease prices of residing in comparison with Western nations, and growing educational high quality and funding in increased training. Kazakhstan can be seen as a secure, impartial, and protected different for college kids from different nations going through geopolitical upheaval, resembling Iran, Afghanistan, and a lot of African nations.
Apparently, a rising variety of worldwide college students from Russia itself are selecting Kazakhstan for his or her research; there are actually greater than 3,000 Russian college students all through Kazakhstan, up from 1,263 in 2021. At Nazarbayev College particularly, we had 32 Russian college students in 2024, up from only one scholar in 2021.
This is sensible; as a post-Soviet nation, Kazakhstan feels acquainted and linguistically comfy for Russian college students, whereas additionally providing a strategic academic benefit. After being expelled from the Bologna Course of in 2022, Russia shifted towards a extra remoted training system, limiting worldwide diploma recognition, mobility, and educational cooperation with Europe.
Kazakhstan continues to be a part of the Bologna Course of, permitting graduates larger entry to work and research alternatives inside Europe. It permits scholar trade and mobility programmes of as much as one educational yr at main European universities. At some universities, rising worldwide partnerships have enabled educational parts to be delivered at associate establishments within the US, Europe, and Asia.
And the flexibility for Kazakhstan to supply what Russia now not can is not only famous by college students, however colleges themselves. It has develop into a beneficial vacation spot for research overseas and language programmes amongst American and European universities. For instance, in 2023, Middlebury (USA) absolutely relocated their Russian language programmes from Russia to Kazakhstan.
The federal government in Kazakhstan has been actively engaged in efforts to extend the nation’s attraction for the worldwide neighborhood, hoping to draw 150,000 worldwide college students by 2029 by strengthening collaborations with Western establishments by worldwide department campuses and joint analysis centres. On the similar time, the federal government is backing synthetic intelligence innovation, funding student-led startups, and creating pathways for entrepreneurship by startup incubators and accelerators.
Kazakhstan’s speedy rise as a research vacation spot of selection has been additional pushed by the enlargement of English-taught programmes, state and university-based scholarships, and improved infrastructure, positioning the nation as a competitor on the worldwide training map. For instance, Nazarbayev College, which began with one worldwide scholar in 2013, now hosts worldwide college students from 34 nations world wide, highlighting the rising worldwide attraction.
As somebody who works carefully with worldwide college students, I get to be a part of their journey from the very starting; serving to with visa functions earlier than they arrive, and supporting them as they settle in and modify to a brand new setting. I usually hear commandment for the benefit of the visa course of, even for individuals who have to use from third nations. In our expertise, scholar visa rejections are extraordinarily uncommon. This offers college students a powerful sense of safety and confidence as they put together for his or her academic journey.
The hospitality and warmness of locals can’t be ignored. In spite of everything, college students wouldn’t need to research in a location the place they really feel unwelcome
And the hospitality and warmness of locals can’t be ignored. In spite of everything, college students wouldn’t need to research in a location the place they really feel unwelcome. College students usually state how genuinely stunned they’re by how welcome they really feel as quickly as they arrive in Astana, Kazakhstan’s capital.
Some say they really feel like celebrities; individuals cease to speak to them, ask the place they’re from, and take photos with them. It’s these small however real moments that make an enormous distinction and assist college students from everywhere in the world really feel at house in Kazakhstan.
Russia’s actions in recent times have offered a chance for Kazakhstan to reveal its worth as a vacation spot for increased training, providing what many worldwide college students can now not obtain from Russia, but additionally far more past that. It’s not simply the geopolitical local weather that influences the mobility of worldwide college students; it’s the efforts of the nation itself and the welcome from these inside.
