Ainur Almukhambetova
Biographic Data
| ID | 4084654 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ainur Almukhambetova |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ainur |
| FAMILY NAME | Almukhambetova |
| SIGNATURE | ALMUKHAMBETOVA A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Nazarbayev University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9385-0762 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 13 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Exploring rural and small-town students’ pathways to STEM and factors related to their STEM engagement
This study extends Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory to examine how interacting social and institutional contexts shape rural students’ engagement with STEM in Kazakhstan, a country experiencing widening rural-urban disparities. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 23 rural and small-town students enrolled in STEM-related university programmes, the analysis explores how micro-, meso-, exo-, and macro-level systems converge to shape edu…
Geopolitics of internationalisation of higher education in the context of conflict
The concept of the new geopolitics of higher education has gained increasing scholarly attention in light of the growing frequency and intensity of such global crises, as geopolitical conflicts and diplomatic tensions, which have underscored the need for institutions to develop adaptive strategies in times of disruption. This study draws on the SAIOS (Scales, Actors, Interests, Opportunity Structures) framework and employs thematic analysis of se…
Women’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Persistence After University Graduation
Women’s persistence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has been widely researched in educational settings, whereas less is known about their STEM persistence after graduation. Drawing on social cognitive career theory and in-depth semi-structured interviews with twenty women graduates majoring in STEM fields, this article explores women’s persistence in STEM fields in Kazakhstan within four years after university graduati…
Experiences of female early-career professionals in male-dominated STEM companies in Kazakhstan
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan put forward elaborate initiatives to address gender segregation in the labour market. However, female professionals are still heavily underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Considering conflicting cultural influences on the role of women in the country and guided by the social cognitive theory, the present study explores the early career experiences of…
STEM University Graduates Transition from Universities to Their First Jobs. Does the Gender Matter
A contextually adapted model of school engagement in Kazakhstan
This study introduces a culturally adapted 17-item scale of school engagement. It offers an important contribution to the international literature by seeking to measure the school engagement of young people in a society undergoing transition from a collectivist to individualist mind-set alongside an education system focused on improving performance in international benchmarks such as those from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Devel…
Covid-19 and the Changes in STEM Students’ Intentions to Pursue International Mobility. What Do the Students Say
The rapid outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the students’ international mobility globally. However, little is known about the challenges that the students, intending to pursue outward mobility experience in deciding between studying in the home country or a foreign country in the current reality. Using a “push-and-pull” model as a framework, this qualitative interview-based study aims to find answers to some of these questio…
Negotiating conflicting discourses. Female students’ experiences in STEM majors in an international university in Central Asia
The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of female students enrolled in STEM majors in highly internationalised university to understand how the various sets of cultural gender-related expectations shape their experiences. We were interested in how different cultures existing within the university and outside the university influence the girls pursuing education in STEM majors and how they deal with the conflicting discourses in t…
Mental Health and Well-Being of University Students
The purpose of this study is to map the literature on mental health and well-being of university students using metadata extracted from 5,561 journal articles indexed in the Web of Science database for the period 1975-2020. More specifically, this study uses bibliometric procedures to describe and visually represent the available literature on mental health and well-being in university students in terms of the growth trajectory, productivity, soc…
Factors affecting the decision of female students to enrol in undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics majors in Kazakhstan
Using the qualitative interview-based research design approach, this study analyses the experiences of female students currently enrolled in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines in the universities in Kazakhstan. More specifically, this study aimed to explore the experiences of the students in the process of transition to postsecondary education and the factors related to their decision to enrol into STEM majors. Th…
Women’s progression through the leadership pipeline in the universities of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
Using a qualitative horizontal comparative case study approach, this paper explores the experiences of female leaders in Central Asian academia to identify challenges they face in transition/performance, the sources of the challenges, and any differences in the experiences of the female leaders. The results of the study are consistent with prior studies conducted in other countries. One feature makes the experiences of women in the region distinc…
Educational Flagships as Brokers in International Policy Transfer
In this article we analyze a recent development in educational reform in Kazakhstan, which presents interest to researchers of policy transfer/borrowing. We argue not only that international policy transfer has become the main approach to educational reform, but also that the approach has been institutionalized by the establishment of a specialized organizational structure, represented by a system of flagship institutions at different levels of e…
Women’s progression through the leadership pipeline in the universities of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
Using a qualitative horizontal comparative case study approach, this paper explores the experiences of female leaders in Central Asian academia to identify challenges they face in transition/performance, the sources of the challenges, and any differences in the experiences of the female leaders. The results of the study are consistent with prior studies conducted in other countries. One feature makes the experiences of women in the region distinc…
Experiences of female early-career professionals in male-dominated STEM companies in Kazakhstan
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan put forward elaborate initiatives to address gender segregation in the labour market. However, female professionals are still heavily underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Considering conflicting cultural influences on the role of women in the country and guided by the social cognitive theory, the present study explores the early career experiences of…
Geopolitics of internationalisation of higher education in the context of conflict
The concept of the new geopolitics of higher education has gained increasing scholarly attention in light of the growing frequency and intensity of such global crises, as geopolitical conflicts and diplomatic tensions, which have underscored the need for institutions to develop adaptive strategies in times of disruption. This study draws on the SAIOS (Scales, Actors, Interests, Opportunity Structures) framework and employs thematic analysis of se…
Covid-19 and the Changes in STEM Students’ Intentions to Pursue International Mobility. What Do the Students Say
The rapid outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the students’ international mobility globally. However, little is known about the challenges that the students, intending to pursue outward mobility experience in deciding between studying in the home country or a foreign country in the current reality. Using a “push-and-pull” model as a framework, this qualitative interview-based study aims to find answers to some of these questio…
Educational Flagships as Brokers in International Policy Transfer
In this article we analyze a recent development in educational reform in Kazakhstan, which presents interest to researchers of policy transfer/borrowing. We argue not only that international policy transfer has become the main approach to educational reform, but also that the approach has been institutionalized by the establishment of a specialized organizational structure, represented by a system of flagship institutions at different levels of e…
Educational Flagships as Brokers in International Policy Transfer
In this article we analyze a recent development in educational reform in Kazakhstan, which presents interest to researchers of policy transfer/borrowing. We argue not only that international policy transfer has become the main approach to educational reform, but also that the approach has been institutionalized by the establishment of a specialized organizational structure, represented by a system of flagship institutions at different levels of e…
Women’s progression through the leadership pipeline in the universities of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
Using a qualitative horizontal comparative case study approach, this paper explores the experiences of female leaders in Central Asian academia to identify challenges they face in transition/performance, the sources of the challenges, and any differences in the experiences of the female leaders. The results of the study are consistent with prior studies conducted in other countries. One feature makes the experiences of women in the region distinc…
Mental Health and Well-Being of University Students
The purpose of this study is to map the literature on mental health and well-being of university students using metadata extracted from 5,561 journal articles indexed in the Web of Science database for the period 1975-2020. More specifically, this study uses bibliometric procedures to describe and visually represent the available literature on mental health and well-being in university students in terms of the growth trajectory, productivity, soc…
Factors affecting the decision of female students to enrol in undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics majors in Kazakhstan
Using the qualitative interview-based research design approach, this study analyses the experiences of female students currently enrolled in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines in the universities in Kazakhstan. More specifically, this study aimed to explore the experiences of the students in the process of transition to postsecondary education and the factors related to their decision to enrol into STEM majors. Th…
Negotiating conflicting discourses. Female students’ experiences in STEM majors in an international university in Central Asia
The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of female students enrolled in STEM majors in highly internationalised university to understand how the various sets of cultural gender-related expectations shape their experiences. We were interested in how different cultures existing within the university and outside the university influence the girls pursuing education in STEM majors and how they deal with the conflicting discourses in t…
A contextually adapted model of school engagement in Kazakhstan
This study introduces a culturally adapted 17-item scale of school engagement. It offers an important contribution to the international literature by seeking to measure the school engagement of young people in a society undergoing transition from a collectivist to individualist mind-set alongside an education system focused on improving performance in international benchmarks such as those from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Devel…
Covid-19 and the Changes in STEM Students’ Intentions to Pursue International Mobility. What Do the Students Say
The rapid outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the students’ international mobility globally. However, little is known about the challenges that the students, intending to pursue outward mobility experience in deciding between studying in the home country or a foreign country in the current reality. Using a “push-and-pull” model as a framework, this qualitative interview-based study aims to find answers to some of these questio…
Women’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Persistence After University Graduation
Women’s persistence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has been widely researched in educational settings, whereas less is known about their STEM persistence after graduation. Drawing on social cognitive career theory and in-depth semi-structured interviews with twenty women graduates majoring in STEM fields, this article explores women’s persistence in STEM fields in Kazakhstan within four years after university graduati…
Experiences of female early-career professionals in male-dominated STEM companies in Kazakhstan
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan put forward elaborate initiatives to address gender segregation in the labour market. However, female professionals are still heavily underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Considering conflicting cultural influences on the role of women in the country and guided by the social cognitive theory, the present study explores the early career experiences of…
STEM University Graduates Transition from Universities to Their First Jobs. Does the Gender Matter
Exploring rural and small-town students’ pathways to STEM and factors related to their STEM engagement
This study extends Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory to examine how interacting social and institutional contexts shape rural students’ engagement with STEM in Kazakhstan, a country experiencing widening rural-urban disparities. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 23 rural and small-town students enrolled in STEM-related university programmes, the analysis explores how micro-, meso-, exo-, and macro-level systems converge to shape edu…
Geopolitics of internationalisation of higher education in the context of conflict
The concept of the new geopolitics of higher education has gained increasing scholarly attention in light of the growing frequency and intensity of such global crises, as geopolitical conflicts and diplomatic tensions, which have underscored the need for institutions to develop adaptive strategies in times of disruption. This study draws on the SAIOS (Scales, Actors, Interests, Opportunity Structures) framework and employs thematic analysis of se…
Political science (8 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Career Development and Diversity (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Pedagogy (5 works) · Economics (4 works) · Higher education (4 works) · Higher Education and Employability (4 works) · Qualitative research (4 works) · Social science (4 works)