Kuralay Nurgaliyeva

This study aims to examine the relationship between higher education and economic development determinants in Kazakhstan’s regions. The paper used two sets of indicators of three-time series: 2010, 2015, and 2020. The analysis constructed a correlation using a panel dataset for 15 regions of Kazakhstan compiled by the Statistics Bureau of Kazakhstan and the National Bank. The first set reflects the determinants of higher education (number of students in colleges and universities, number of teaching staff, and the existing ICT infrastructure in universities). The second set includes indicators of regional economic development (GRP per capita and the population’s income level). The results showed a causal relationship between economic development and the determinants of higher education in the regions of Kazakhstan, which depend on the period. Surprisingly, the number of university students has almost no effect on GRP per capita and the population’s income level. For 2015–2020, the study observed the emergence and strengthening of correlations between economic growth and the development of innovations in universities. The findings also identified Mangystau, Atyrau, North Kazakhstan, and Pavlodar as regions with low innovation development in education. Therefore, the country’s higher education development policy should encourage and strengthen knowledge management systems in these regions. The study concludes that higher education and economic indicators significantly influence the growth of the economy in Kazakhstan.

Acknowledgment
The study was carried out within the framework of program-targeted IRN BR18574240 funding by the Science Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan “Development Strategy of Kazakhstan Regional Potential: Assessment of Socio-Cultural and Economic Potentials, Roadmap, Models and Scenarios Planning”.

Today, the development of financial technologies and their application in the banking sector have changed the processes of economic growth in general and commercial banks in particular, giving them an innovative orientation. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the banking infrastructure, innovation, and economic growth in Kazakhstan based on panel data. The study relies on information extracted from annual publications issued by the National Bank of Kazakhstan, the World Bank Database, and the Bureau of the National Statistics of Kazakhstan from 2004 to 2022, and also uses a regression model. Within this framework, variables used in the study, the number of ATMs, the number of bank branches, and the share of innovative products, are explanatory variables, and the gross domestic product per capita is the dependent variable. The study showed that both business innovations and the prevalence of ATMs have a significant and noticeable impact on the economic landscape of Kazakhstan, as evidenced by the impressive value of the R-square of 0.890. Moreover, the regression model demonstrates reliable stability and reliability, which is confirmed by the p-value of 0.001. In light of these findings, it is important to contribute valuable insights and evidence-based recommendations to enhance Kazakhstan’s economic growth strategy by leveraging the synergistic potential of its banking infrastructure and innovation ecosystem.

Acknowledgments
The study was funded by the Committee Science of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan “Investigating the impact of macroeconomic, political, and digital processes on financial sustainability of Kazakhstan” No. AP19674948.