David Cameron has been on a trade mission to the autocratic country, and was accompanied by Martin Davidson, the chief executive of the British Council.

The council¡¯s Researcher Links Programme will bring together 60 early-career scholars each year to share experience.

In a deal worth ?750,000 the British Council will also train 250 teachers and educational managers, including Kazakh university staff, at a number of institutions.

Simon Williams, the council¡¯s director in Kazakhstan, said the country ¡°has set out an ambitious and extremely well-funded education development programme from 2011 to 2020¡±.

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¡°This includes explicit targets for the increased internationalisation of the education system, which can only be achieved through international partnership and collaboration,¡± he said in a statement.

UK universities have built a few links with Kazakhstan, but not without controversy. In April 2012, Churchill College, Cambridge, withdrew a proposed scholarship named after the Kazakh president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, partly because it was nervous of being associated with the ruler, who has led Kazakhstan since 1991.

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University College London is a partner of Nazarbayev University (itself named after the president), based in the capital Astana, and helps run foundation programmes.

david.matthews@tsleducation.com