Trends, Problems and Perspectives of Quality Assurance in Higher Education of Kazakhstan

On September 20-21, 2018 the Independent Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (IQAA) hosted the Eurasian Forum on Quality Assurance in Education “Forward to the Future: Trends, Problems and Perspectives of Quality Assurance in Higher Education”, dedicated to the Agency's 10th Anniversary. The conference was opened by the Chairman of the board of trustees of the IQAA, Professor Zh.A. Kulekeev, and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan A.K. Aymagambetov, who read out the greeting from the Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan E.K. Sagadiev and noted changes in the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the expansion of academic autonomy of universities.

The forum participants included the representatives of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) such as Michel Vera (NVAO), Colin Touk (European Quality Assurance in Higher Education (EQAR), Belgium), Maiki Udam (Estonian Accreditation Agency (EKKA)), Esther Uertas Hidalgo (Catalonian Quality Assurance Agency in Higher Education), Elena Petrov (National Agency for Ensuring the Quality of Education and Scientific Research (ANACEC), Moldova), A.A. Verbitsky (Moscow State Pedagogical University), Petra Pister (University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany), L.S. Grebnev (Higher School of Economics, Russia), Mustafa Baba oglu Babanli (Azerbaijan State University of Oil and Industry), B.I. Ismailov (Agency for the Accreditation of Educational Programs and Organizations, Kyrgyzstan); the representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan; the national experts of the IQAA.

The first day of the forum was filled with interesting reports from local experts and invited speakers of the forum, who shared their experience in internal quality management, university management and student-centered education. Guests and participants of the forum learned a lot from Petra Pister’s presentation about moving from tools to a system – more than ten years of quality assurance at University of Duisburg-Essen, Michel Vera on "The theory of relativity in quality assurance" and other interesting speakers of the forum. A vivid example of the fact that the universities of Kazakhstan are in constant development and strive to introduce the experience of world leaders of higher education in their activities is the fact that representatives of domestic universities such as: Kazakh National Pedagogical University named after Abai, Zhetysu State University named after I.Zhansugurov , The Caspian State University of Technologies and Engineering named after Sh. Esenov and others, have the opportunity to present their experience in quality assurance of higher education and university management.

Moreover, on the first day of the forum, the topics relevant to all universities of Kazakhstan related to the management of modern universities that have an autonomous status and are oriented toward the model of an entrepreneurial institution were touched on issues as part of the panel sessions. The speakers were: A.K. Sagintayeva: "Managing an AutonomousUniversity", A.M. Kanagatova: "Model of entrepreneurial university: AlmaU case", P.M. Yarvelaid: "Models of university management: history, modernity and the future. Effective management models for universities in Kazakhstan", B.B.Mustafa: "Approaches to the management of modern universities."

The second day of the forum was opened by the representative from Belgium Colin Tuck with a report on the topic "Internationalization of quality assurance in the European Higher Education Area - current changes, challenges and opportunities". The success of higher education institutions is estimated by the indicators of the employment of graduates thus the experience shared by the Director of International Cooperation and Development of the Estonian Accreditation Agency (EKKA) Maiki Udam and the Rector of the South Kazakhstan State University named after M. Aueozov D.P. Kozhamzharova, was very motivating for participants and guests of the forum.

Innovative technologies in the educational process and its digitalization are very important for the successful operation of universities nowadays and this was highlighted in the panel session "Universities and Innovations". Speakers in this field were Esther Uertas Hidalgo: "Ensuring the quality of e-learning: new challenges" and R.M Iskakov: "Indicators of results achieved for university management".

At the end of the forum, moderators of panel session took the floor. To sum up, it can be concluded that the forum was useful for all participants who remained impressed by speakers’ presentations. The high level of event organization was noted by guests. In turn, organizing committee of the forum hopes that the gained experience and knowledge will contribute to the further development of higher education in Kazakhstan as well as abroad. At the end of the forum, all participants were awarded with certificates.