Educational Emigration of Kazakhstani Youth during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Social impacts and Challenges

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the educational emigration of Kazakhstani youth during the COVID-19 pandemic. International educational migration is the current global tendency, which has been attracting hundreds of Kazakhstani youth year by year to migrate in pursuit of higher education. In the history of migration studies, student migration has always been a centralized topic to discuss in accordance with the national and international report statistics. In the context of globalization, young adults are being more passionate and enthusiastic about studying abroad. However, the COVID-19 outbreak has caused dramatic issues on student’s education mobility from Kazakhstan as well. Meanwhile, there are key challenges as for young people to care about is their health following the rules of lockdown and keeping social distance have created another social effect. As international movement from the country has stopped a strategic approach on how to continue the process of students’ flow on educational programs enrollment has declined, in some cases submissions been postponed for a year or two. Consequently, it would have caused changes on the motivation and emotional expectations of future student migrants. Evaluating the current dynamics of the student emigration, the government of Kazakhstan needs thoroughly to consider about concepts on how to regulate the outflow. In its turn, the pandemic has emerged an alternative such as online education that would possibly cover the purpose of educational emigrants.