Kazakhstan has provided the economic exemplar for other Commonwealth of Independent State (CIS) countries since its independence in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union. It has been classified by the World Bank as an 'upper middle income' country and witnessed sustained growth in spite of the global recession. Political reforms however have been slower to realise and the Presidential Republic still remains a highly centralised and autocratic regime. Some 23 years beyond independence this paper assesses whether the role played by the NGO sector has changed and, as a consequence, the asymmetric statesociety fulcrum has shifted in favour of a stronger societal voice in Kazakhstan. It finds mixed evidence of partnership between NGOs and Government and ongoing problems in exercising public voice and moderating the power of the state.

The purpose of the research is to conduct an in-depth analysis and evaluation of existing “the Public and Local Administration” (PA) educational programs across the universities of Kazakhstan. This study was carried out with the support of the Astana Civil Service Hub. The object of the research is 120 universities, 45 of which train personnel in 48 educational programs within the bachelor’s degree (PA), and 38 universities have 73 master’s degree programs in PA major. Only six universities provide eight doctoral educational programs respectively. The Academy of Public Administration (APA) under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan gives an opportunity to obtain a specialized PhD profile degree in PA. In the course of the study, the number of methods such as: comparative analysis, observation, induction and deduction, logical approach, and interviews were engaged. Current research has analyzed the higher education sources in the field of PA, namely educational programs from the open platforms of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, along with syllabuses, regulatory educational legal acts, legislation in the field of PA and expert interviews. The findings come from calculating the ratio of disciplines according to the components of which the taught disciplines were distributed: management, economics, law, public policy, digital knowledge, and interdisciplinary disciplines. Results indicate that the PA undegraduate programs (39 universities out of 45) are mainly synchronized with economic educational programs. The research will be continued with regard to the assessment of the academic personnel and research capacity of universities within PA educational programs, alongside with an analysis of the APA training programs correspondingly.

The main purpose of the article is to study the state and development prospects of academic mobility in Kazakhstani universities. Since the launch of mobility, the status of universities has changed significantly for the better, namely the quality of education has begun to increase, allowing to build up the capacity of graduates by studying foreign models, professional environment approaches competencies that will undoubtedly be in demand on the labor market. The current employers’ requirements for university graduates are very high, and only the presence of a systemic policy in universities for the development of various models of mobility will make it possible to comply with modern global trends. In the paper, the authors present the data of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2019–2020, reflecting the activities of universities in the field of mobility, the data of the Auezov South Kazakhstan University. In 2020–2022 the conditions for mobility have been changed under the influence of economic and political factors and COVID-19. Overall, universities in most countries have switched to hybrid forms of study. The results of field research are presented to identify the role of mobility and efficiency of competencies, as well as the development skills of students on the example of the Auezov University. According to the study, it was concluded that mobility is an important factor in the preparation of competitive specialists for the economy of Kazakhstan. Undoubtedly, it impacts and plays an important role in the formation of the University 4.

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