Abstract
Kazakhstan has expanded joint and dual degree provision; however, research has not to date examined how a local programme differs from its foreign-partner version within the same university. This study compares two STEM programme pairs at regional Kazakhstani universities: Biotechnology at Kozybayev University and its University of Arizona-linked version, and Electroenergy at Zhubanov University and its Heriot-Watt-linked version. The corpus comprises EPVO records, university programme pages, and partner-university webpages. Using qualitative comparative document analysis in an embedded multiple-case design, the study examines curriculum structure, content, learning outcomes, skills orientation, international integration, and local adaptation. The documents reveal contrasting curricular logics. Local programmes emphasize sector practice, national standards, regulation, and domestic labour-market needs. Dual-degree versions retain that base but reallocate emphasis toward industrial and research-oriented biotechnology, and toward digital, computational, sustainable, and project-based engineering. The paper contributes a programme-level account of curriculum internationalisation and names this pattern curriculum layering.