Every year more than one thousand Bolashak International Scholars leave the steppes of Kazakhstan to study abroad in countries like the United States. Over its 30-year history, Kazakhstan has produced more than 12,000 graduates. However, there is little research on what these scholars experience in their intercultural transitions and challenges, and what happened when they returned home. It has been argued that such international education experiences need to focus on structured intercultural competence programming for pre-departure, in-country, and reentry experiences to develop skills for intercultural competence, global adaptability, and global competence (Deardorff & Jones 2022). In this panel presentation, we present the intercultural journeys of six Kazakhstan Bolashak scholars who studied in the United States. Using autoethnographic and narrative inquiry methodologies, we analyzed personal narratives of scholars’ pre-departure expectations, in-country adaptation, and post-return reintegration across personal, interpersonal, psychological, and intercultural dimensions. Through narrative analysis, recurring themes emerged that included: navigating mixed emotions; tensions around family decisions; negotiating cultural differences; managing conflicts; support from host program; relationships with faculty mentors; and a myriad of sociocultural, psychological, and institutional adjustments during reentry. We illustrate how international education engenders academic development and is also catalyst for intense social, psychological, interpersonal, and cultural transformation. This interdisciplinary panel will be chaired by a host program faculty mentor from the United States, and the six Kazakhstani scholar panelists will center voices from a non-Western, Central Asian context, and offer a nuanced understanding of the international exchange journey as a multidimensional, multidisciplinary, and multicultural process of becoming.

Authors:
Michael Goh, University of Minnesota, United States
Samat Uralbayev, SDU University, Kazakhstan
Amina Uaisova, Kazakh Ablaikhan University of International Relations and World Languages, Kazakhstan
Arailym Nussipova, International Academy of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Kazakhstan
Nurgul Kurmangaliyeva, Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University, Kazakhstan
Gulzat Berkinbayeva, Kazakh National Women’s Teacher Training University, Kazakhstan

About the Presenter(s)
Dr.Arailym Nussipova is an Associate Professor and Associate Dean at the International Educational Corporation (KazGASA) Almaty, Kazakhstan. Her current research focuses on higher education development, intercultural experience and academic mobility.

Dr. Amina Uaisova is a Senior Lecturer at Kazakh Ablai Khan University of International Relations and World Languages. Her research interests include tourism management, cultural heritage studies, and intercultural studies.

Berkinbayeva Gulzat - PhD, Kazakh language and literature, Senior teacher, Kazakh National Women's Teacher Training University, Almaty, Kazakhstan, Visiting scholar at CEHD, Minnesota, USA. Experienced university educator, researcher withover 15years

Dr. Samat Uralbayev is a Senior Lecturer and Researcher of the Department of Social Sciences, SDU University, Kazakhstan. He is a PhD candidate in International Relations (Wuhan University, China / Ablaikhan University, Kazakhstan).
https://www.linkedin.com/in/samat-uralbayev-4198891a2/

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gulzat-berkinbayeva-643163206/

Connect on ResearchGate
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gulzat-Berkinbayeva-3?ev=hdr_xprf

Additional website of interest
https://www.facebook.com/gulzat.berkinbay/

See this presentation on the full schedule – Thursday Schedule

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