University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education in Nazarbayev University

As a part of the University of Pennsylvania’s global engagement projects, the Graduate School of Education has partnered with officials in Kazakhstan to establish Nazarbayev University, an organic, Kazakhstani-run preeminent research university that allows academic freedom and governance. Nazarbayev University is meant to serve as a model for reform that can be duplicated by other universities across the Central Asian country. Penn GSE helped to develop the university’s structure, governance and policies. As a result of Penn GSE’s involvement with Nazarbayev, the Kazakhs recently passed legislation to create a legal structure for academic board governance. By 2020, all colleges and universities in Kazakhstan will be required to have boards of trustees. While the project started with Nazarbayev University, it has been expanded to evaluate middle and high school governance. Up until now, the schools in Kazakhstan have been highly centralized, but e