This paper has implied that higher education institutions over the Last 20 years have seen the emergence of different patterns of higher education Leadership in Kazakhstan. In 2010, new and ambitious targets for the development of collegial management in universities in a phased process of granting greater autonomy to universities were clearly formulated in the State Program of Education Development 2011-2020. University Leaders, having professional knowledge of the local features of higher education practices in Kazakhstan, may need to share their expertise and decision-making powers with the Boards of Trustees. In order to carry out the transition from the "state control model" to the "state supervisory model", both the state and universities need to build on the current developments of shared governance and raise institutional standards of accountability.