New Perspectives in Science Education

This study explores postgraduation employment transition experiences of STEM graduates in Kazakhstan. The purpose of the study was to uncover the trends in employment of the graduates and the real situation in labor market for recent graduates in STEM specializations. The paper uses descriptive quantitative approach to analyze official statistics collected by the   Bureau of National Statistics. The results of the study reveal that most STEM graduates in

Kazakhstan do not find a job in their area of specialization upon graduation from university. Even when gradautes find a job in STEM, it is rarely related to their direct area of specialization during university studies. We also found the demand in the segment of economy can provide employment to less than half of the grafuates at all levels of education (bachelors, masters and doctoral).  Statistical data was also combined with the results of the previously conducted qualitative studies to determine common prerequisites, which gurantee employment.  Overal, we found that there is a dissonance between the number of graduates in a particular year, their interest in pursuing the profession and the employer's practive of hiring. Future research directions were identified with consideration of the limitations of the dataset.