The reasons of Kazakhstan joining to the Bologna process. Need? or Trend?

The impact of Western academic culture due to the Bologna process drastically reconstructed domestic approaches of Kazakhstani system. The Republic of Kazakhstan joined the Bologna process in 2010 and became the first country of Central Asia who entered the European Higher Education Area. In this blog, I will sift through the reasons of joining to the Bologna process and how far the system of higher education changed in Kazakhstan. 

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Initially, the reasons of joining were the impulse of internal dissatisfaction, the low quality of education in HE and non-acceptance of Kazakhstani academic degrees. The low quality of HE education evidenced by the bribery and unemployment rates of graduates (Mouraviev, 2012).  And also, these stimuli of degree acceptability make Kazakhstan to think of joining the Bologna process, as long as the membership provides the “automatic recognition of academic degrees” (Mouraviev, 2012, p.16).  The only thing that changed from the year of joining, 2010, the unsatisfactory situation in HE is the recognition of academic degrees.

Moreover, Kazakhstan implemented the three level system, namely Bachelor, Master and PhD degrees. The other thing is the implemented credit system. The controversial point is that Kazakstan already implemented in its system the American model of credit hours. This makes a confusion for the universities what system they should apply.  In my opinion, the universities probably do not differentiate the credit system of the European and American. The government should clarify the directions for universities: what credit system should be implemented. If it will be implemented, so the state should provide the guidance, the instructions (Mouraviev, 2012).

The European countries has 12-year schooling, but Kazakhstan only in the stage of implementing “the pilot-program of 12-year learning”, which is stopped in current time (State program, 2010).

In fact, Kazakhstan is not ready for being the complete member of the Bologna process. It is seemed that Kazakhstan joined the Bologna process because it was a new trend, like in fashion the new shoes from famous couturier you must have.

Reference

Mouraviev, N. (2012). Kazakhstan has joined the Bologna Process: New challenges for the higher education policy. Social Policy             and Administration, 39(4), 361-380.

State program, of education development in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2011-2020, (2010).  
         Retrieved from http://www.akorda.kz/ru/category/gos_programmi_razvitiya