| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 10 Feb 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The First President established a hugely attractive scholarship programme (Bolashak programme: “future” from Kazakh) to educate leaders in government, academia and industry abroad. This is the largest scholarship programme by scale and human capital investment across the post-Soviet region funded by the government. Starting from 1994, the Bolashak programme has sent over 13,000 citizens to study abroad in leading world universities for Bachelor, Master, and Doctoral programmes. Upon graduation Bolashak scholars are offered a fast career track when they can join the civil service at a managerial position, even with less experience than required. Notwithstanding the obvious achievement in digitalisation of public services and associated decline in petty corruption, earning Kazakhstan international approbation from bodies like the OECD, insidious problems remain. Many human services such as education, health care and social welfare are unsuitable for digital delivery and therefore vulnerable to old practices of cronyism, patronage, and lack of accountability to service users. Since employees in these sectors are also poorly remunerated, corruption is still rife and is used to secure a timely efficient standard of service, a practice widely understood by citizens.
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