Government support of gifted children in Kazakhstan is based in understanding
human capital as a main component of the country's further successful economic development. In 2009,
the government of Kazakhstan launched a project of intellectual schools, a policy which has the aim
to accelerate the development of education system and in turn, the country. Since 2010, graduates of
NIS have been entering higher education institutions in Kazakhstan and abroad. It is thus interesting to
examine how the students undergo their transition from secondary school to post-secondary education
and how well they are prepared to study at the university of international standard.