The Public and Social Policy (PSP) doctoral study program prepares students for basic and applied research and teaching in academia as well as other types of activities requiring a high level of theoretical and methodological education in PSP. This program is open to all master's degree graduates or equivalent.

The Doctor of Policy Studies programme has flexible delivery modes and strong experiential learning elements including field visits, and academic workshops and seminars. The field visits (including overseas tours) are to ensure that students understand the current mindsets and practices regarding policy studies in other countries and can conduct their research from an international perspective, without simply relying on textbooks, journals, and other publications.

The Department of Sociology and Social Policy has more than ten professorial members from six different countries. Since 2014, it has had 19 research postgraduate students from Asia, Africa, Europe and North America, including an outstanding record of six Hong Kong PhD Fellows.

The content of the educational program at the doctoral speciality 8D04103 «State and local management" constitute such disciplines as "Public administration economic security of Kazakhstan," "Globalization and its impact on the main economic processes," "The theory of social management" and others.