FACULTY EXPERIENCES OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN THREE KAZAKHSTANI UNIVERSITIES WITH DIFFERENT GOVERNANCE SYSTEMS

Abstract

The last decades witnessed substantial changes occurring in the higher education curriculum across the world. The transition to the knowledge-based economy has become the focus of the political agenda in many countries, including Kazakhstan, as a result, the function of accumulating knowledge and its further application for the economic development of the country has increasingly been transferred to universities. In this context, the significance of curriculum provision comes into the foreground in enhancing the quality preparation of the cadres. Kazakhstani universities are currently undergoing transformations in how they approach curriculum development. The changes have been triggered by the adoption of the Bologna process framework and an increase in academic autonomy of Kazakhstani universities. As a result of these higher education transformations, the academic staff has received more freedom to decide on the educational experiences they wish to provide for their students. However, the increased faculty involvement in curriculum development comes with a multitude of challenges, as universities intend to develop new institutional structures to ensure the quality of the curriculum provision. The legacy of past practices makes the process of curriculum development complex, providing opportunities as well as presents some challenges. This dissertation research explores the curriculum development experiences of universities in Kazakhstan. Drawing on the elements of Giddens’ Structuration Theory, the multiple-case study identifies features of curriculum development in Kazakhstani universities. The study considered how academic members construct the curriculum and explore the processes that shape, enable and constrain curriculum development. Using in-depth semi-structured interviews, data for this study were collected from 22 faculty members at three different universities. Findings of the research suggest that conceptions of curriculum development at two state universities can be described as a combination of content-based and competence-based, and the university with a higher degree of autonomy follows an outcomes- based model of curriculum development. The study shows that university structures support and/or hinder these curriculum development approaches of faculty members. As a result, this empirical study made contributions by producing findings that may influence curriculum development practice in Kazakhstani universities and contribute to the theoretical body of knowledge of higher education curriculum development.