Abstract:
This article explores the employment experiences of government
scholarship graduates from one master’s degree programme at a
flagship university in Kazakhstan. Analysis of interviews with
graduates of a master’s degree programme designed in response
to a national policy agenda shows that graduates encountered
numerous challenges transitioning from university to work despite
obtaining a degree from a top Kazakhstani university. The key
challenges included limited employment opportunities, hostile
attitudes toward younger graduates, difficult working conditions
and employers’ misunderstanding of the new master’s
programmes. We argue that despite significant government
financial investment in education, a weak enabling support system
hinders graduates’ career advancement and results in job
mismatch and underutilization of skills. We suggest that
policymakers need to shift debates on human capital development
and graduate employability from supply-side factors to a more
comprehensive model in which graduate employment is
supported through the collaboration of the higher education
system, industry, policymakers and graduates themselves.
