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.

摘要

本文探讨了哈萨克斯坦一所旗舰大学的一个硕士学位课程的政府奖学金毕业生的就业经历。对针对国家政策议程而设计的硕士学位课程毕业生的采访分析表明，尽管毕业生获得了哈萨克斯坦顶尖大学的学位，但从大学过渡到工作时仍遇到了许多挑战。主要挑战包括就业机会有限、对年轻毕业生的敌视态度、艰苦的工作条件以及雇主对新硕士课程的误解。我们认为，尽管政府在教育方面投入了大量资金，但薄弱的支持体系阻碍了毕业生的职业发展，并导致工作不匹配和技能利用不足。