As Merrill (2011: 161) points out, “integration with Europe is an example of how the Central Asian nations now are following different paths, and how generalizing about them can lead to inaccurate judgments. Kazakhstan, the one Central Asian nation that has territory in Europe, is on a self-proclaimed “Path to Europe”.” Kazakhstan became the 47^th signatory of the Bologna Process in 2010 and, since then, internationalization of education has become a major concern for senior university managers across the country. As Enders & Westerheijden (2011: 474) point out, “the ‘way to Bologna’ is a long one, with options for local interpretations and manifold pathways”. There has been very little research so far on the interpretations and pathways being followed in Kazakhstan, and the issues faced by a post-Soviet country at the beginning of its Bologna journey are significant for greater understanding of the processes of global education reform and the expansion of European educational ideas in a globalized world.

The proposed paper looks at some of the local interpretations and pathways being adopted by universities in Kazakhstan as they embark on their Bologna journey. It is part of a large-scale research project funded by the Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan. The aim of this research project is to examine the phenomenon of internationalization of higher education in Kazakhstan, in terms of institutional engagement with internationalization, teaching and learning, and research, in order to inform national policy as well as contribute to international knowledge in this area.

This paper focuses on one part of the study, namely, a survey of all universities in Kazakhstan, exploring perceptions, strategies and practices in the management and internationalization. The survey explores the visions and aims of Vice-Rectors and Directors of International Offices in the area of internationalization, their strategies for achieving these aims, and the challenges and opportunities they face in managing internationalization initiatives in general and Bologna initiatives in particular.

Creswell, J. W. (2011). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Enders, J. & Westerheijden, D. (2011). The Bologna Process: from the national to the regional to the global, and back. In King, R., Marginson, S. & Naidoo, R. (eds) Handbook on Globalization and Higher Education, Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar., pp. 469-484. Merril, M. (2011). Internationalizing higher education in Central Asia: Definitions, Rationales, Scope and Choices. In Silova, I. (ed.) Globaliztion on the Margins: Education and Postsocialist Transformations in Central Asia. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. pp.145-169.