New admission requirements for Bolashak scholarship applicants have made studying abroad more difficult for Kazakh students. Launched in 1993, the Bolashak scholarship, which translates into “future,” was established by President Nursultan Nazarbayev to facilitate Kazakhstan’s “transition toward a market economy” by increasing the quality of Kazakh’s workforce. The Bolashak scholarship is funded by the Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Education and Science and provided a full ride for the nation’s students to some of the world’s best universities. Past scholarship recipients have studied at the University of Tokyo, McGill University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The Ministry announced in early 2013 that applicants are now required to have three to five years of work experience to be eligible for the program. This new requirement means the scholarship program would now focus on sending only graduate students abroad. Applicants must also pass examinations on foreign language and general knowledge, along with a psychological evaluation. Students who receive the scholarship are required to work for Kazakh companies for a minimum of three years at the return of their studies. In the agreement signed at the acceptance of the scholarship, it outlined specifically that returnees must “engage in labor activity in their specialty acquired through the Bolashak scholarship” for three to five years. Students who fail to follow terms of agreement must repay the full costs of the scholarship. The selection criteria of Bolashak scholars are rigorous, and is designed to train future leaders in business, international relations, law, science, engineering, and other fields deemed important for government service.
The Bolashak scholarship have once funded a range of academic endeavors, partnering with 630 universities in 32 countries across the world. According to the Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Education and Science, 7,000 Kazakh students were sent abroad in the program’s inception. However the launch of the Nazarbayev University have decreased the funding for Bolashak scholarships. The new university is based in Astana and aims to bring world-class education to Kazakhs rather than sending students abroad to receive it. Nazarbayev University would focused heavily on engineering and technocratic skills, and would have less of the perspective-broadening liberal arts curriculum of Western education.
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