Global Competitiveness and Educational Change: Perspectives About English as the Medium of Instruction in Kazakhstan's Universities

To become globally competitive, Kazakhstan has been introducing higher education benchmarks and quality scholastic services to match those in advanced countries. The administration's policy for higher education reform is a degree of convergence, that is, catching up with the developed knowledge-based economies of North America and Europe, enabling entry into the European Union (EU) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). To enhance global competitiveness, the government set out to implement policies promoting English as a medium of instruction (EMI) in universities. Therefore, a crucial area of higher education reform in Kazakhstan has been promoting English to develop human capital and modernize education in line with international standards, thereby training scientific and teaching staff. In addition, higher education reform has aimed at integrating Kazakhstan into the global research and education space. This article is a case study of language reforms in two major universities in Kazakhstan that have adopted English as the medium of instruction. The purpose of this study is to investigate the implications of adopting English as the medium of instruction instead of the traditional Kazakh and Russian. The findings indicated an overreliance on English at the expense of the traditional Kazakh and Russian languages. As a result, to become globally competitive, universities must adopt new internal attitudes and organizational structures and improve current practices, all grounded in developing national identity.