Award of Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Kazakhstan: Public Policy and Its Results

Abstract

Doctoral programs help shape future scientists. This article is aimed at analyzing public policy in the field of doctoral studies, in particular regarding the award of a Doctor of Philosophy degree, and assessing the level of PhD thesis defense in Kazakhstan as one of the results of the policy. To achieve this goal, a statistical analysis of data from the Bureau of National Statistics on the number, movement, and distribution of doctoral students for 2022/2023 and a content analysis of regulations from the Adilet information and legal system related to the doctoral program were carried out. It was revealed that in recent years there has been a modernization of the process of training scientific personnel and thesis submission. Public policy in the field of doctoral studies is aimed at developing a high level of research skills among doctoral students, which will ensure the training of highly qualified scientific personnel and the implementation of tasks for the development of competitive science in the country. However, the country has a low level of thesis defense at the end of doctoral studies - 15.23%. This indicator varies by region of the country, specialty of study, gender, and methods of payment for education. In order to increase the level of thesis defense and the level of degree of scientific personnel, a number of measures were proposed for admission to doctoral studies, during doctoral studies, for admission to the thesis submission, and thesis submission.