Sustainability Education and Higher Educational Institutions in Kazakhstan: a student perspective

• In Event: Reforms, sustainable development, and social change in higher education (I)

Proposal

Since the adoption of the UN Sustainable Development Goals within the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015, education has been highlighted as a catalyst for change that would facilitate “a far-reaching change of thinking and acting in individuals and society as a whole” (Barth & Rieckmann, 2016, p.100) with its role regarded as powerful for achieving sustainability (Michelsen and Wells, 2017). With an aim to enable students to participate effectively in a democratic society and contribute to shaping it in a sustainable manner (de Haan, 2006), education for sustainable development (ESD) seeks to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to understand and address complex sustainability challenges, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and social inequality. As such ESD is considered a crucial area of research in the field of higher education.
Universities have a pivotal responsibility to direct their research, social responsibility, and curricula towards creating awareness and educating students to achieve sustainable development (Glover et al., 2013). Within this increased focus on becoming sustainable universities, engaging all stakeholders, particularly students, within the university ecosystem is vital (Wright, 2010). In that sense, one major perspective in exploring and promoting educational strategies that enable individuals and communities to understand and engage with sustainable development issues is to include student voices in discussions about ESD and the need for education to empower students to become agents of change in creating a more sustainable future as studies suggest.
Kazakhstan is one of the 133 countries that has committed to UN SDGs and the first Central Asian country to adopt the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development indicating the country's commitment to sustainable development. There are various initiatives being made by the government to address priority SDGs in the country, including the education sector. In the higher education sector, universities (eg. Narxoz, AlmaU, KazNU) have set up SDG centers with number of others participating in global rankings such as Times Higher Education Impact Ranking that assess universities against the SDGs. One of the highlights of Kazakhstan’s commitment is the establishment of SDSN Kazakhstan, a national network under the umbrella of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UN SDSN) hosted by Nazarbayev University.
Despite these activities and some policy development in this area, relatively little is known on how universities in Kazakhstan are addressing this critical issue in the country and beyond. Moreover, what is more concerning is that in Kazakhstan and more broadly in Central Asian context, student voices are often silent and/or not taken into account, including little or no evidence on how universities attend to and incorporate students' voices and perspectives into sustainability initiatives. While there is a growing body of literature on sustainability education, there is a scarcity of research and knowledge related to sustainability at universities in Kazakhstan, with almost no research on the student perspective. Addressing young people’s perspective for sustainable development is important for the present and future of a young economy like Kazakhstan, as it helps prepare the next generation of leaders and decision-makers who will be responsible for further driving the country towards sustainability.
As part of an interdisciplinary project, this paper aims to explore whether and how universities in Kazakhstan are providing education that gives students the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values to become socially responsible global citizens and shape a sustainable future. While doing so, it seeks to answer the overarching question: To what extent do students believe Kazakh HE provides opportunities to develop their knowledge, skills, attitudes and values to become socially responsible global citizens and shape a sustainable future?
This presentation will discuss the findings from the analysis of the policy and institutional context within which Kazakh HE promotes sustainability. Furthermore, it presents data from the quantitative survey of first and final-year students across multiple discipline areas, namely STEM, Arts and Social Sciences in three regional and two central universities in Kazakhstan on their attitudes and perspectives towards sustainability education in the national higher education context. The selected range of students and disciplines is expected to provide both breadth and depth of the research issue in the country. The survey is planned for September-December 2023 with data analysed before February 2024.
While previous research on the student perspective of ESD in different contexts indicates that students' perceptions are generally environmentally oriented (e.g. Yuan and Zuo, 2013), there is also evidence that university is not the main source of learning for students and they learn more about sustainability through media and social media (Rolleston et al., 2023). It also shows the need for universities to strengthen their provision in this area. While this might be relevant in the Kazakhstani context too, by exploring students' awareness and perceptions of sustainable development in the country, this paper contributes to an understanding and knowledge on the dominant areas of sustainability in the HE sector in Kazakhstan as well as of other sources of learning outside the university. This knowledge can help institutions and policymakers to not only address any SDG areas that might be falling behind or less highlighted in educational policy and practice but also provide universities opportunities to rethink how better equip students with such learning in the country and beyond.

Authors

• Gulzhanat Gafu, Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education

• Tristan McCowan, University College London