Space chief says Kazakhstan Bolashak graduates study English in bars

Talgat Mussabayev, Head of KazKosmos National Space Agency, complained about the current shortage of specialists with a good command of English, a Tengrinews journalist reports, citing him as saying at a government sitting. According to him, the level of language competency and expertise of Bolashak bursary holders leaves much to be desired. (The program "Bolashak" ("Bolashak" means "The Future" in Kazakh) was established by a Decree of the President Nursultan Nazarbayev in November of 1993. The program seeks to provide an opportunity for the most talented students from Kazakhstan to gain higher education at the best universities overseas.) “There have been many Bolashak bursary holders applying for positions (…) They are short of the KazKosmos standards. We need specialists holding at least a Master’s degree. These Bolashak bursary holders lack decent knowledge (…) they picked up English language in pubs and are far from being specialists in their respective fields. We do hire Bolashak bursary holders who have decent knowledge; however, there are not so many such applicants”, Mr. Mussabayev said. According to him, among those employed with KazKosmos there are graduates from Soviet time universities and Russia-based universities. Closing down his speech, Head of KazKosmos said that a number of Kazakhstan-based universities have launched programs to raise personnel for the space industry.