The Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools(NIS) is a network of schools for students of age 11 to 18 throughout Kazakhstan.[1] The schools are named after Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev, former president of Kazakhstan, who has promoted the idea as a means of developing the intellectual life of the country.[2] Previously, each school focused primarily on a specific set of subjects: either physical sciences and mathematics, or chemical and biological sciences, as well as foreign languages.[2] Although this division is still represented in the names of schools, most schools share the same curriculum based on Cambridge O Level and A Level, except for NIS IB in Astana. Instruction is trilingual, in Kazakh, Russian and English,[1] shifting to exclusively English by the junior year.[2]
Currently NIS operates twenty intellectual schools throughout the country, in addition to an international school and specialist mathematics school in Astana.[1]
Conferences
The NIS International Conference is one of the largest educational conferences in Central Asia, and the largest focusing exclusively on preschool, primary and secondary education, typically attracting around 1000 participants. Previous keynote speakers have included Colleen McLaughlin, Patrick Griffin, Fred Genesee, William Schmidt, Richard Phelps, Miho Taguma, David Bridges, and John Elliott.
Criticism
The Nazarbayev network has been criticized for its concentration on only the best and brightest at the expense of the bulk of the rest of the student population.[2]
