Digitalization Policy Challenges: Experiences of Kazakhstani Faculty

• In Event: Roundtable Session 7
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: Case studies of teachers in diverse contexts: integrating digital tools and competencies, and early career transitions

Proposal

Keywords: faculty research, higher education policy, Kazakhstan, research performance
Kazakhstan adopted the Bologna system in 2010 (EHEA, 2024), which restructured the higher education system into a three-level model: a bachelor’s, a master’s, and a PhD program. Following these significant changes in the system, requirements to hold positions of faculty members such as associate professor and professor were reframed to include peer-reviewed papers published in journals indexed in Journal Citation Reports by Clarivate (Adilet, 2011.) Most peer-reviewed journals are published in English and are based on empirical research, which requires a faculty member to master academic English and have access to peer-reviewed literature sources. Unfortunately, few studies (Dauletbayeva, 2018; Griffith & Altinay, 2020; Kuzembayev et al., 2022; Kuzhabekova & Ruby, 2018; Yassinova, 2019) that have investigated the question discussed how faculty members in Kazakhstan lack resources at their institutions, support from the head of the department and meager funding for research. Despite these challenges and the lack of institutional resources, the demand for a good h-index and quality papers with citations remains. Thus, this paper's research question is: What are the faculty members’ current experiences considering increased attention and public policy changes in the higher education system of Kazakhstan?
Institutional theory (Cai & Mehari, 2015) is used as a theoretical framework for this study, which helps investigate how institutional approaches, rules, and norms directly and indirectly impact faculty members’ research outputs. Exploratory sequential mixed method design is applied to the study. The qualitative phase involves conducting interviews with faculty members and analyzing policy documents. The quantitative phase includes the development of a faculty experience survey based on HERI faculty surveys (2024), with further pilot testing. The anticipated results add to the literature on Kazakhstani faculty experience with empirical data and the development of nationwide faculty experience surveys.


References:
Adilet, (2011). Order of the Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated March 31, 2011, #128 on approval of the rules for awarding academic titles (associate professor, professor). Retrieved from https://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/V1100006939
Cai, Y. and Mehari, Y. (2015). "The Use of Institutional Theory in Higher Education Research," Theory and Method in Higher Education Research (Theory and Method in Higher Education Research, Vol. 1), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 1-25.
Dauletbayeva, D. (2018). Research in Kazakhstani universities: exploring faculty’s perspectives (Master's thesis, Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education)
EHEA, European Higher Education Area, (2024). Retrieved from http://ehea.info/page-kazakhstan
Griffith, A. S., & Altinay, Z. (2020). A framework to assess higher education faculty workload in US universities. Innovations in education and teaching international, 57(6), 691-700
HERI faculty survey, 2024. Retrieved from https://heri.ucla.edu/heri-faculty-survey/
Kuzembayeva, G., Tashmukhambetov, B., & Maydangalieva, Z. (2022). Needs and barriers of early career researchers at regional universities of Kazakhstan. Journal of Social Studies Education Research, 13(4), 160-187.
Kuzhabekova, A., & Ruby, A. (2018). Raising research productivity in a post-Soviet higher education system: A case from Central Asia. European Education, 50(3), 266–282.
Yassinova, K. (2019). Factors impacting research productivity at higher educational institutions in Kazakhstan (Master's thesis, Nazarbayev University).

Author

• Aidana Sirgebayeva, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign