Paper abstract:

Policy implementation research suggests that the likelihood of policy success, i.e. matching policy outcomes with expectations, can be best assessed by engaging the bottom-up perspectives of those who will implement the policy. This presentation works from this premise and examines the views of university leaders in Kazakhstan on the potential impact of a per capita per credit higher education funding model proposed for implementation at their universities. According to this policy, the government’s funding to universities would be allocated based on the number of academic credits students acquire in a semester. Linking funding to individual academic progression should enable students to build their education trajectories and choose the professors and courses they take at the same time. It is hoped that the per capita per credit funding approach would introduce flexibility into the higher education system, benefiting students and stimulating university development. Applying resources for a policy implementation perspective, this presentation discusses concerns associated with the implementation of the proposed model. Resources that need to be considered when planning for funding reform go beyond financial means and also include competent employees to implement the policy, political support for the policy, and time for the effects of the policy to take place. The evidence in this presentation comes from 11 semi-structured qualitative interviews with representatives of rectorates at nine universities in Kazakhstan. Face-to-face interviews took place from February to June 2019. The universities represented in this paper were purposefully selected to reflect the diversity of the higher education system in Kazakhstan, characterized by differences in size, status, location, and ministerial oversight. The decision to interview university administrators at the highest level was driven by the hierarchical nature of higher education governance in Kazakhstan. The findings suggest that the match between the policy expectations and the goal of strengthened student choice will be contingent upon the ability of universities to introduce organizational processes that enable such a choice. At some universities, this would require revising budgeting procedures, introducing course try-out policies, and advancing understanding among university personnel about how to record academic credit accumulation and transfer. This will be the area of structural and cultural change at universities. Thus, advancing the quality and competitiveness of universities will be conditioned by university access to funding and the acceptance of personnel of both structural and cultural changes associated with the implementation of the new policy.