Globalization has brought opportunities to modern societies, yet at the same time there is a diversity of challenges that impose a growing set of skills, knowledge, values and attitudes required from contemporary citizens, and global competence is one of them. While existing literature focuses on creating more defined conceptual construction of the term and assessing proficiency of global competence among students of different age groups, it remains unclear how school-level factors could further nurture global competence among younger generation. Identifying how such relevant for the 21st century skill could be developed through educational institutions carries practical value, particularly in the context of Kazakhstan, due to its unique geopolitical role in Eurasia, as well its diverse environment.

With the purpose of identifying factors that impact Kazakhstani students’ global competence, this study uses PISA 2018 data to analyze students’ performance in Global Competence assessment in relation to student- and school-level factors through two-level regression. Findings reveal that both student- and school-level factors significantly affect student’s global competence. At the school level, school’s achievement in global competence test could be explained by its location, type, and teachers' attitudes towards some cultural groups.