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Paper short abstract

I propose to study the influence of study-abroad programmes on corruption by looking at the Bolashak international scholarship programme funded since 1993 by the government of Kazakhstan, a Central Asian country suffering from systemic corruption.

Paper long abstract

I propose to study the influence of study-abroad programmes on corruption by looking at the Bolashak international scholarship programme funded since 1993 by the government of Kazakhstan, a Central Asian country suffering from systemic corruption. The questions that will guide my explorations are: Do study-abroad projects influence corruption levels in systemically corrupt environments? How do professionals that studied abroad adapt to or change corrupt environments? I will use the framework proposed by institutional theory to structure my thinking on: 1) understanding of the link between global education and local corruption; 2) assessing the effectiveness of government investment into study-abroad projects as an anti-corruption policy; and 3) theorising the potential of the change of norms in transforming systemically highly-corrupt environments.