EXPLORING GIFTED SCHOOL GRADUATES’ ADJUSTMENT TO UNIVERSITIES IN KAZAKHSTAN: FEATURES, FACTORS, AND IMPLICATIONS
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Date
2017
Authors
Almukhambetova, Ainur
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Graduate School of Education
Abstract
In 2009, Kazakhstan has started a project of 20 Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools (NIS) for gifted
children which now operates in all regions of Kazakhstan with an aim to accelerate the
development of the educational system and prepare an intellectual elite of the country. Since
2010, the graduates of these schools have been entering Kazakhstani higher educational
institutions, but little is known about the university adjustment of these students. This mixed
methods dissertation aimed to explore NIS school graduates’ adjustment to university life, as
well as the personal and contextual factors influencing their adjustment. It also aimed to
understand how the gifted students’ experiences vary across two top Kazakhstani universities
with different characteristics: autonomous Nazarbayev University and Eurasian National
University, both located in the capital city Astana. Based on prior research, university adjustment
was conceptualized in this study as multi-faceted construct, which involves academic, social,
personal-emotional dimensions and includes such dimension as institutional attachment. The
study employed a mixed-methods explanatory sequential research design. A sample of 201
students participated in an online survey, while qualitative set of data was collected with the help
of individual and focus group interviews. The study revealed that gifted NIS graduates in general
adjusted well to the demands of university life, though some specific environmental
institution-related and student-related factors were identified as influencing their adjustment to
university. Also, a set of non-institutional environmental factors, such a pre-enrollment
family/financial circumstances, influence of parents on students’ choices, high societal, familial
and personal expectations, as well as students’ “gifted” characteristics, have considerably
influenced their adjustment process. The study also revealed that students encountered a number
of specific issues while adjusting to universities, such as negotiating their identities: an identity
of an adult, an identity of a higher education student, and an identity of a gifted student. It was
also revealed that NIS graduates experienced a “fear to fail” and “of not looking smart enough”
in peers’ and professors’ eyes and a mismatch between their expectations and actual experiences
at university. The study also identified that the students had different adjustment experiences in
two types of universities. Finally, the study uncovered several important issues in higher
education context of Kazakhstan that have become obvious through the prism of gifted students’
adjustment experiences at these different university contexts.
Description
Keywords
Type of access: Restricted, Adjustment to university, the transition to university, factors of adjustment, gifted students, intellectual schools
Citation
Almukhambetova, A. (2017). Exploring gifted school graduates’ adjustment to universities in Kazakhstan: features, factors, and implications. Graduate School of Education