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Good practice Imported

Bolashak International Scholarship — Kazakhstan's 30-Year Return-Service Talent Programme

Kazakhstan · Astana · See the Kazakhstan profile · See the Astana profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 74% 57/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Kazakhstan's return-service scholarship has sent 12,731 citizens abroad for fully funded degrees since 1993, requiring years of work at home after graduation — with a documented 1.9% non-compliance rate and an active debt-recovery system.

12,731
Graduates (1993–2024)
1.9% (235 of 12,731)
Non-compliance rate
1.151 billion tenge (~US$2.39 million)
Misused scholarship funds recovered (Jan–Jul 2024)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
JSC "Center for International Programs" (Bolashak), Government of Kazakhstan
Period
1993–ongoing
Keywords
human capital, scholarships, public-sector talent, return-service obligation

Context

The Bolashak International Scholarship, established by presidential decree in 1993, fully funds high-achieving Kazakhstani citizens to complete degrees at foreign universities on condition that they return to Kazakhstan and work there for a fixed term afterward.

Results

The programme had produced 12,731 graduates over its first 30 years as of a September 2024 report, with 235 individuals (1.9%) losing their scholarships for failing to fulfil the work obligation and 1.151 billion tenge recovered in misused funds between January and July 2024 alone.

Implementation
Indicative cost
High (€500k–€5M)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
JSC Center for International Programs administrators, debt-recovery and compliance unit

Conditions for success

  • conditioning funding on a fixed-term return-to-work obligation
  • maintaining an active enforcement and debt-recovery system for non-compliance

Common failure modes

  • a former parliamentary deputy has publicly questioned whether the programme has built sufficient domestic expertise after three decades, citing continued reliance on foreign specialists in some key positions

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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