Abstract
• Students and alumni have positive views of opportunities through studies in English. • Positive views are connected to opportunities for international content and teaching methods. • Students’ negative views of academic performance in English are associated with their higher L1 proficiency. English-medium education (EME) has become a global trend, especially in bilingual and multilingual university contexts, aiming to enhance students' English proficiency and their readiness for an internationalized workforce. While EMEʼs potential benefits and challenges to English language development have been explored, its impact on content knowledge acquisition and employment prospects remains debated. This study investigates the interplay of English linguistic proficiency, academic performance, and workplace opportunities in a single EME university in Kazakhstan, a bilingual context typically with Kazakh and Russian as dominant instructional languages. This mixed-methods study, adapted from a case study of a Chinese university (Huang & Curle, 2021), surveyed students ( n = 61) and alumni ( n = 48) who evaluated their development in EME and their experiences in hypothetical comparison with Kazakh or Russian as a language of instruction. Ten students and seven alumni were interviewed to contextualize survey responses. Results showed strong beliefs in EME's advantages for proficiency, content knowledge, and employment, with correlations observed between these beliefs and English or Kazakh proficiency levels. These insights underscore the need for pedagogical strategies tailored to the diverse needs of EME students.