Aray Saniyazova

Aray Saniyazova is a SERU-International Research Associate. She holds a Master’s degree in education from Vanderbilt University (2011), and PhD in education from Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan (2017). 

Her research interests focus on contemporary issues of higher education: transition from high school to university; student experience and college climate; gender issues in education; institutional development of newly established universities. She was involved in the collaborative research project of the Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education and the University of Cambridge’s Faculty of Education The Improvement of the Secondary Education Curriculum of Kazakhstan in the Context of Modern Reforms (2014-2016). Her current research focuses on experiences of graduate student parents and employs data from the Student Experience in Research Universities (SERU) project.

She is a co-author of the chapter on Nazarbayev University in the book “Accelerated Universities: Ideas and Money Combine to Build Academic Excellence” (Editors: Philip Altbach, Liz Reisberg, Jamil Salmi and Isak Froumin) (2018) that introduces the genesis of NU, a university established from scratch in 2010, the preparation period and institutional development. She served as a member of the working group on Nazarbayev University Strategy for 2030 (2018). 

She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Education at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russia) and advisor to the Department of Student Services at Nazarbayev University (Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan). 

Publications

• Saniyazova A. (2020) Young researchers as drivers of change in doctoral education // Higher Education in Russia and Beyond. 2020. Vol. 4. No. 25. P. 22-23. https://herb.hse.ru/data/2020/12/25/1343808964/3HERB_25_view.pdf#page=22
• Katsu, S., & Saniyazova, A. (2018). A World-Class Experiment in Kazakhstan: Nazarbayev University (pp. 68-85). In Accelerated Universities. Ideas and Money Combine to Build Academic Excellence / Ed. by P. G. Altbach, L. Reisberg, I. Froumin. Issue 40: Series: Global Perspectives on Higher Education. Boston, Leiden: Brill. https://brill.com/view/title/37943
• Fimyar, O., Saniyazova, A., & Mun, O. (2017). Collaborative Research: Searching for Synergy in a Study of Student Transition in Kazakhstan. SAGE Publications Ltd. https://methods.sagepub.com/case/collaborative-research-synergy-study-st...