Higher education institutions in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan have started internationalizing quality assessment procedures; those in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan have not. The differences concern politics (the willingness of national leadership to be transparent, internally and externally) and economics (the nation's ability to finance educational reform and to resist inappropriate "educational exports" of donor nations) more than educational quality. The plethora of processes in Kyrgyzstan reflects the priorities of donors; Kazakhstan is trying to balance national goals with Bologna standards.

This study is designed to describe applicants'/students' perception of admission tests and exams at Kazakhstani institutions. Often Kazakhstani higher education specialists make amendments in the curriculum, educational policy, and teaching methodology without considering the students' voice. According to the researcher's observation, Kazakhstani government did a little research on students' perception of admission tests and exams at Kazakhstani universities. Since all Kazakhstani universities admit applicants according to the Unified National Testing (UNT)/Complex Testing of applicants (CTA), the researcher focused on the UNT/CTA. The goal of the research paper is to observe students' perception about the UNT and international tests.