Bolashak International Scholars Program

Research & Teaching for University Instructors

Are you Kazakhstan’s next Bolashak International Scholar?  The Office of International Studies in Education (OISE) within the College of Education would love to work with you!

At Michigan State University, scholars have a year-long opportunity to take advantage of prestigious resources and elevate their skills, knowledge, and expertise.

MSU’s Visiting International Professional Program (VIPP) connects Bolashak scholars with the expertise of world-class faculty and resources available at MSU.  MSU is one of the top research universities in the world—and College of Education is ranked #3 worldwide (Shanghai Global Rankings), including four #1 programs:  elementary education, secondary education, educational administration, and higher education administration!

When you select MSU and the College of Education, you will be part of a cohort that embarks on an adaptable professional and personal development program focused on Research & Teaching for University Instructors. It supports instructors to develop innovative practices within their own areas of expertise, both in research and teaching.  Scholars engage in a guided process of goal-setting and inquiry, culminating in a plan for researching and implementing a self-initiated project.

Each scholar will be connected with one or more MSU faculty mentors to support their independent study and research. Through networking and connections across the whole of MSU, the College of Education program helps foster research collaborations, from proposals for educational programs to research papers and international conference participation. In recent years, some of the units, departments, and colleges OISE has connected scholars with include: 

• Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education (CEPSE) within the College of Education.
• Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering within the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.  
• Department of Finance within the Broad School of Business.
• English Language Center (ELC) within the College of Arts & Letters.  
• School of Social Work within the College of Social Science. 

You can read more about the experiences of participants in the Research & Teaching for University Instructors program here: Dr. Assel Izekenova and Dr. Zulfiya Kulmanova.

To join the Research & Teaching for University Instructors program, you’ll need to make a few key selections in the application at the VIPP site:

• PROGRAM: Select Others and enter: Bolashak 500.
• FIELD OF INTEREST: Depending on your interests, select K-12 Education or Others and enter: research/teaching in College of Ed.  
• SPECIAL NOTES: In this box, enter Researching & Teaching for University Instructors (College of Ed).
• DURATION: Select 12 months.

The Office of International Studies in Education (OISE) within the CED encourages the integration of cross-cultural, global perspectives in teaching, research, and outreach.