New Perspectives in Science Education

Aliya Kuzhabekova is an Assistant Professor in Educational Leadership, Policy and Governance specialization area at the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada, and a part-time Associate Professor in Higher Education Leadership at the Graduate School of Education, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan. Aliya holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education Policy from the University of Minnesota. Aliya’s research interests are in international and comparative higher education. Her work focuses on the analysis of the experiences of international and local faculty in Kazakhstan, on the barriers and factors contributing to university research capacity building in transitional economies, as well as on the process of research socialization and international mobility of junior scholars (doctoral students, postdocs, junior faculty). An important part of her research agenda is concerned with unique experiences of women leaders, faculty and researchers in post-Soviet higher education. She has supervised over 30 graduate theses and dissertations and has trained 10 Graduate Research Assistants on her funded research projects secured from the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs, Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and the Ministry of Education of Kazakhstan.

Areas of expertise: international higher education, women in STEM, comparative education, post-Soviet educational reform