UK NARIC's International Projects Group has completed its benchmarking study of Kazakhstan's Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools' (NIS) Grade 12 Certificate, and has evaluated it as comparable to the overall GCE A Level standard.

The NIS was established by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to create and pilot a new educational programme for high schools and now has a network of 20 purpose-built schools, 19 of which are offering the 'NIS-Program'.

The executive summary of the benchmarking report will be published in early April and will be viewable or downloadable (PDF) on the Publications tab on the members' Hub page (member log-in required).

The NIS Grade 12 Certificate is awarded on completion of the NIS-Program (High School), a two-year integrated upper secondary mathematics and science programme developed and currently assessed in collaboration with Cambridge Assessment International Education. The NIS-Program intends to prepare its students for undergraduate study nationally or internationally, supported by a trilingual language policy with students taught and assessed in English, Russian and Kazakh. The first cohort of students with the NIS Grade 12 Certificate graduated in 2013.

An emerging market for UK education, Kazakhstan is the largest central Asian state, with rich oil and gas reserves.

The UK NARIC training schedule includes new sessions on education systems and qualifications frameworks in this region, including a half-day workshop on Education in Russia and Central Asia, covering Kazakhstan.