Higher Education Expansion in Kazakhstan and Authoritarian Regime Stability

Abstract

This research will examine the ideological education of Kazakh university students and answer why the Kazakh government is promoting the expansion of higher education. Since education cannot be impartial, it is always linked to the specific political interests of the ruling elite, and this research will focus on the ideological policy pursued among students. Thus, through the analysis of educational policy in higher education, an attempt will be made to identify the motives of the political regime in promoting the expansion of higher education in Kazakhstan. Unfortunately, despite many theoretical and empirical studies of the role of education in general and higher education in particular under different regimes, there is very little research on the relationship between an authoritarian regime and higher education in Kazakhstan. The research will utilize Gramscian theoretical approaches that will allow us to understand the political purpose of the government of Kazakhstan in expanding higher education. To answer the research questions, the research will use a mixedmethod. Desk-research, critical discourse and content analyses were selected as the most appropriate data collection methods. The research project analyzes documents related to the higher education system in Kazakhstan and data that will be collected by quantitative and qualitative methods.