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[jmenicucci]

Hello everyone. I've just been offered a faculty position at Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan and I'm looking for insight that can be provided by anyone who knows firsthand how things are looking in this new venture. I'm just doing due diligence here, but am interested in any information floating out there. Specifically, I'm interested in making sure the promised benefits (furnished apartments, pay, flights) are as advertised.
Thanks in advance.

[trueopinion]

If something is too good to be true it always is.  Nazarbayev is offering a lot of benefits but no one is taking their offers, they keep re-advertising over and over again. Wonder why?  Do you know what  fool's gold is ? 

[trueopinion]

One more thing. If you really want to know what's going on in thee, go to Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, New York and talk to numerous refugees from Kazakhstan.  You may find them in the restaurants near the store called. International. Talk to them.

[profexpat]

I won't pretend to be any kind of expert on Kazakhstan, but I'm not sure it's as grim as all that.

I have accepted a position at NU for this fall.  I may be a sucker, but so far all of the promised benefits have materialized (and then some).  This will be the first semester, so they have hired an entire university's worth of faculty in the past few months.  I suspect that this is why the advertisements have shown up repeatedly.  I know that at least my college is fully staffed.

The university is legally separated from the ministry of education with an independent board of trustees and funding, so *in theory* it will have academic freedom unlike any other institution in the country.  I am still a little unsure (a mix of skeptical and curious) about just how true this will be, but the management is being handled by western universities.  The administration is primarily western as well.  By all accounts, it is a good-faith effort to meet the best western standards. 

You might also ask where else in the world are so many resources being directed not just into higher ed, but into a true University model rather than four year vocational institutes.

I don't want to sound like I've completely drunk the Kool-Aid, I still have some hesitations and the next few months will be very telling.  But at least the claim that the ads are being reposted because nobody will take the jobs is misleading. 

[scotto703]

What department?

[profexpat]

I'm in SHSS.  Are you here as well?

[crkens]

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but are you people sure you know what you're getting yourselves into by moving to Kaz.?  I was in Kostanay for a year; all I can say is it was truly frightening.  Everything is a problem, food, banks, hospitals etc., etc., etc.

[eharold88]

Dear all,

Be careful.  One faculty member left after two weeks, feeling mislead by the benefits package.  A senior Academic person left because he was told that his return to the US to help is very sick mother would be counted as leave, but once there, it was not...it was unpaid leave.  Many other faculty who have been here but one month have also expressed concern over taxation on reinbursement for shipping goods, airline tickets, etc. as well as being mislead on research funding and a host of other issues.

Nazarbayev University is not one that adheres to international standards but is localized.  The Exec. Council is entirely Kazakh with no western influence.  The President is here less than 50% of the time and has no real budgetary nor decision making power, nor does the Provost.  It is a shame.

Please consider your career carefully.

[crkens]

Hope will spring eternal in the breast of a fool.

[jmenicucci]

Hello again!

So a quick update and an offer. I did decide to accept the job at Nazarbayev University and I would be more than happy to discuss, privately, my experience here with any potential candidate while also providing a full disclosure of any potential biases, etc. Please do not hesitate to send me a message if you have any questions.

[trueopinion]

I just looked at whom they hired in Math, Physics and Chemistry. It is pathetic. They even hired an old fellow without a PhD. I bet they have better faculty in the University of Zimbabwe. Shame on Nazarbayev  that he gave his name to this  poor excuse of a "University".

[sunshine101]

I have been at Nazarbayev University since August 2011. I teach in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. Like the majority of my colleagues, I hold a Ph.D. from a very well-respected university (in the U.S.), and I have extensive teaching experience. I took this job because I am adventurous and because the offer was too good to pass up. As a current faculty member, I can verify that Nazarbayev University takes good care of its international hires. Some of the financial perks include: high salary, beautiful housing, research funding, and twice annual trips (for employee and family members) to country of origin. Academic perks include the opportunity to work with bright, motivated students, a 2/2 teaching load, and the chance to contribute to the development of a promising university that partners with major international institutions (SHSS partners with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and UW-M is very eager to see our school be successful!). A new institution in a former soviet republic, NU obviously has a lot of hurdles to overcome, ranging from layers of bureaucracy to forums (like this one) filled with misinformed comments. For those of you on this forum who are quick to criticize and eager to spread stereotypes and rumors, shame on you. For those of you looking at this forum because you are curious and considering applying for a position at NU (especially in SHSS), I encourage you to do so and to find out for yourselves what NU has to offer. NU will not be a good fit for everyone, but it is for many, including me and the majority of my SHSS colleagues this first year. From what I have witnessed first hand, those who are leaving or are considering leaving (and there are few that I am aware of in SHSS), are either not good fits for NU or are people quick to complain and get worked up about every little detail--and let's face it, there are a lot of details in academia, especially at a brand new institution in KZ. As for myself, I am very happy that I chose to move to Astana, and I intend to stay here for a while (though KZ doesn't have a tenure system, the labor codes make it very difficult to fire employees after three years of employment). The job is challenging but rewarding and the compensation is outstanding! I feel very privileged to have my job at NU and to have the opportunity to be involved with the development of an international university in Eurasia.

[trueopinion]

Your reply must have been sanctioned by your superiors. Typical of the Soviet Union and its now-independent republics.

[steppechild]

Most programs at Nazarbayev University are doing well but the Physics program is a mess because of a nonresident chair, and an incompetent assistant chair and dean. The chair spends only half the time at NU because his main job is with Carnegie Mellon U. The assistant chair has no Ph.D. and is supervising professors with Ph.D.s. The dean spends his time sucking up to the higherups while doing nothing about his faculty.
The faculty of the school of science is very upset about an attempt by the chair, assistant chair and dean to sack a good young physics professor. The professor's "crime" was to object to a curriculum handed down from on high that he thought was inappropriate.
The sum total of the mess in physics is that 40% of students taking Introductory Physics are failing. Nazarbayev University students are carefully selected from the best high school students in Kazakhstan.
So who is to blame for a 40% failure rate? It surely isn't the students. Try nonresident and incompetent management.

[topsyturvy]

Steppe Child is right about the physics situation at Nazarbayev University and who is to blame.
He didn't mention that another physics faculty member was threatened with the loss of his job for questioning the physics curriculum, and the dean did nothing about the intimidation. That Kazakh faculty, who saw academic freedom at working while getting a doctorate in America, is scared to death right now, but the threat to him didn't come from Kazakh management but Americans.
Top management of the university does not realize how much the faculty of Science and Technology despise this dean. The sooner they do the better.