Students' perceptions of the role of their NIS experience in their academic performance at Nazarbayev University

Abstract

Government support of gifted children in Kazakhstan is based in understanding human capital as a main component of the country's further successful economic development. In 2009, the government of Kazakhstan launched a project of intellectual schools, a policy which has the aim to accelerate the development of education system and in turn, the country. Since 2010, graduates of NIS have been entering higher education institutions in Kazakhstan and abroad. It is thus interesting to examine how the students undergo their transition from secondary school to post-secondary education and how well they are prepared to study at the university of international standard.