Gendered Aspects of Undergraduate Student Experience in the Time of COVID-19: A Case Study of Nazarbayev University

Abstract This study examines student experience in the context of their transition to remote instruction during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic with a particular focus on the gendered aspects of the student experience. The researchers conducted a survey in July 2020 at one of the leading universities in Kazakhstan, Nazarbayev University. We sought to capture the immediate effects of the crisis on student experience and to see the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on learning, teaching, and assessment. The survey was developed by the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Consortium (Berkeley, USA) which granted permission to all interested universities to use a survey instrument to explore the experience of their students. Nazarbayev University was the only university in Central Asia that surveyed their students using this survey instrument. The survey assesses five areas of the student experience for both undergraduates and graduate students impacted by the pandemic and campus closures: (1) the transition to remote instruction, (2) the financial impact of COVID-19 on students, (3) student health and wellbeing, (4) belonging and engagement, and (5) future plans.