Internationalization and Local Research Capacity Strengthening: Factors Affecting Knowledge Sharing Between International and Local Faculty in Kazakhstan

Abstract

This study explores factors influencing the extent of engagement of international faculty in developing local research capacity. Drawing on ideas from research on knowledge sharing and on “intellectual commons,” we found that while the faculty share explicit knowledge in publications and tacit knowledge by providing apprenticeship opportunities for their students, they remain disengaged from building capacity of local academics. We argue that the main reasons for this disengagement is ambiguity in interpretation of the social contract, ineffective reward structures, and the lack of tenure contracts.

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our appreciation to the research assistants on this project—Magzhan Amangazy and Nazym Suleimen, who helped us in data collection, data analysis, and project management.

Disclosure Statement

The funding agency did not influence the process of data collection, analysis, interpretation or writing. No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, National Committee on Science [Project N4361/ГФ4].

Notes on contributors

Aliya Kuzhabekova

Aliya Kuzhabekova is an Associate Professor at Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan. Her research focuses on comparative and international higher education (international mobility, research capacity, researcher development, equity issues in higher education, and postcolonial critique of educational reform process in post-Soviet Eurasia). Aliya completed her PhD at the University of Minnesota, where she was subsequently employed as a postdoctoral scholar at the Center for Research in Science, Technology, and Public Policy. She is currently engaged in research of immigrant youth's transition to employment at Spott School of Business, Carleton University, Canada.

Jack T. Lee

Jack T. Lee is a Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh specializing in the field of comparative and international higher education. Jack completed his PhD at the University of Toronto. His thesis focused on the internationalization of higher education in the case of Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong as education hubs. Prior to moving to Edinburgh in 2019, he was the Director of Studies of the doctoral program in Higher Education Management at the University of Bath, supporting 200 students from 46 countries, and an Assistant Professor at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan.