Global citizenship among students of Kazakhstan: the role of social media

With the increasing involvement of universities in Kazakhstan in the processes of internationalization, there is a need to adapt educational programs to the changing requirements of the labor market and the national educational environment. An important aspect of these changes is the study of the perception of global citizenship among students of Kazakhstan. In this article, the authors present the results of their two studies on global citizenship. In the first study, the authors set out to study the behavior of university students with participation in democratic processes and their use of social media. In the last decade, many researchers have studied the impact of social media on youth participation in global public life. Many of them noted the positive impact, suggesting that the use of social media would promote democratic participation, especially among the younger generation. Among the students of Kazakhstan, 284 students took part in this study. Participation in global and democratic processes includes five main elements: voting, political activism, consumer participation, protests, and communication with politicians. Our research has shown that university students in Kazakhstan most often express their support or protest within the framework of consumer participation. Students in Kazakhstan demonstrate a low level of participation in political activism, protests and communication with politicians. Regarding the second work of the authors, the study aims to adapt the Scale of Global Citizenship to the context of Kazakhstan, which is a key step in preparing students for active participation in democratic processes. The study used a cross-sectional design using quantitative methods for data collection and analysis. 374 students participated in the study. Based on the results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, as well as reliability calculations, it was found that the Global Citizenship Scale has been successfully adapted for use in Kazakhstan, which confirms its applicability in the country.