The economy of the former Soviet Union republic is booming due to its large oil reserves, and the Kazakh government invests part of the profits into grants for students to study abroad in order to strengthen their knowledge economy. The grants are essential: students from non-European Union member states pay higher tuition fees than European students. The University of Groningen hopes to be the institution where these students end up

‘This is the first time that our university is expanding activities in Kazakhstan’, explains marketing coordinator Jessica Winters. That means that the recruitment team isn’t exactly sure what to expect and therefore has not set any sort of recruitment target.

Expanding activities

This week, a member of the RUG team will visit an education fair in Kazakhstan to promote the University. Research has shown that Kazakh students are interested in studies in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in particular. ‘However, we can’t look into the future, so we have to evaluate the results after the fair’, Winters says.

Although Russian is the most commonly spoken language in Kazakhstan – followed by Kazakh itself – for the time being, the recruitment campaign is being conducted in English. As per usual, a Facebook page will also form a part of the campaign.