Zhubanov University with the Center for International Programs organized an online briefing to explain the new rules of the Bolashak scholarship.
Recall that the Government Decree of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated 6 May , 2020 № 271 amended the rules of selection of applicants for the award of an international scholarship “Bolashak” and determining the direction of spending the international scholarship “Bolashak”.
Students and master’s students were told about the new rules of selection of applicants for the award of the international scholarship “Bolashak”, which, according to representatives of the Center for International Programs, provides equal opportunities for all. All quota categories have been abolished.
Since this year, only applicants with an unconditional invitation from leading foreign universities, except for applicants from rural areas, may participate in the competition for the Bolashak scholarship.
The number of competition rounds has been reduced from 6 to 3, namely, selection rounds for evaluation of motivation and recommendation letters, as well as rounds for knowledge of state and foreign languages have been abolished. Applicants will have to pass the tests themselves and provide certificates of knowledge of the state language when submitting documents. Applicants from rural communities should additionally be provided with certificates of knowledge of foreign language.
Testing for knowledge of the state language will be conducted in the regional branches of the National Testing Centre.
Selection rounds include:
1-round: Comprehensive test of intellectual abilities, personal and business competencies, psychological readiness to study abroad;
2-round: Personal interview with members of the Independent Expert Commission;
3-round: Meeting of the Republican Commission on Training Abroad.
It should also be noted that the new Rules exclude preliminary language training. It is preserved only for applicants from rural communities to study English, for up to 6 months and will be held on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
According to the new Selection Rules for “Bolashak” Scholarship, applicants from rural communities can take part in the competition if they have lived in rural communities for the last 3 years and have been working for the last 2 years.
The list of priority specialties will be formed by the Ministry of Education and Science taking into account the medium-term forecast of labor market demand.
A draft list of leading foreign higher education institutions and foreign organizations recommended for education under the Bolashak Programme for 2020 is currently under approval. The draft list of higher education institutions includes the world’s leading universities in accordance with international academic rankings: QS World University Rankings, Academic Ranking of World Universities, Times Higher Education World University Rankings, and the U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking.
In addition, changes are made to the composition and regulations of the Independent Expert Commission (IEC). It is planned to significantly increase the transparency of the IEC’s work through strict regulation of its work.
It should be noted that currently 13 graduates of the Bolashak program are working at Zhubanov University, 144 graduates of the Bolashak program in total in the region. The graduates studied/internship in Great Britain, USA, South Korea, Israel, Canada, Switzerland, etc. In terms of specialties, technical specialties and humanitarian sciences prevail.
