Abstract
Inclusion in higher education has become a fundamental necessity in contemporary educational settings. In Kazakhstan, universities tend to institutionalize inclusion primarily through the lenses of formal equality and a medical-compensatory approach, whereas students themselves associate inclusivity with flexible learning, support mechanisms, and elements of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). The study examines inclusion in higher and postgraduate education institutions in Kazakhstan through a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, including a content analysis of universities’ internal regulatory documents and an empirical sociological survey conducted among students from five Kazakhstani universities ( n = 372). The findings reveal a noticeable gap between the institutional formalization of inclusion and the way inclusion is perceived by university students. The study demonstrates that Kazakhstani inclusive higher education requires a shift from compensatory approach toward the systemic integration of Universal Design for Learning and substantive equality at the institutional policy level.