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- Convenors:
-
Stanley Currier
(IREX)
Mieke Meurs (American University)
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- Theme:
- EDU
- Location:
- Sigur Center Conference Room
- Sessions:
- Thursday 10 October, -
Time zone: America/New_York
Long Abstract:
How are Central Asian universities, and especially those in Kazakhstan, adapting to international standards of quality? Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union higher education suffered to varying degrees across the region and in different countries. Infrastructure for science and engineering is expensive and has only been partially rehabilitated. The role of English has become more important, while Russian also remains important. Some environmental issues, such as global warming and melting of the Central Asia glaciers affect the long-term water resources and overall health of the entire region. The role of women in these traditional societies is changing. What approaches are universities taking to improve higher education at this level? How long will these take? How are universities responding to pressure to publish in higher quality international journals? This panel will consider various perspectives on quality issues in higher education institutions in Central Asia and particularly in Kazakhstan.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 10 October, 2019, -Paper long abstract:
The contemporary world's most important environmental issue is global climate change. In Central Asia in general, the most important consequence of climate change is to its water resources, due to the long-term melting of the mountain glaciers. Annual snow and glacial melt are the source of the vast majority of water resources in this region. Yet depending upon country and university, faculty and students have little familiarity of the most important international reports and studies of these issues from organizations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. And this is true even though the IPCC is an organization created by two agencies of the United Nations. In this paper I will describe the challenges in science education and discuss approaches to improving environmental science education in this region. These challenges include internet, access to journals, and language of study. The paper will note examples where significant progress has been made.
Paper long abstract:
How can the higher education system of Kazakhstan be improved so that graduates are in demand in the labor market and are prepared for the challenges of a changing world?
This paper provides an analysis of the Quality Assurance(QA) systems of five European universities (University de Liege, Royal Institute of Technology KTH, University de Lorrain, Plovdiv University and Craiova University), visited in the framework of international project experts training on QA in higher education; national quality assurance system analysis; and survey of internal QA system in Kazakh Ablai Khan University and KazUEFIT. It identifies the possibilities and appropriateness to apply EU best practices to Kazakhstan. The paper argues that effective internal quality assurance standards would contribute to the enhancing quality culture, quality of education and will result in an increase of job opportunities for graduates in the Kazakhstani HEIs. The main aspects of this research deal with the interrelation between quality of education and employability of graduates, interconnection between gender discrimination and restricted employment opportunities of women. The paper argues that the quality of higher education and training of highly qualified and employable specialists are the important prerequisites of sustainable social and economic development of society. Nowadays higher education institutions must provide high quality, student centered learning and permanent adaptation of study programs and teaching methods to diverse expectations of labor market. Employers manage the labor market. It is necessary to strengthen University-Business-Government networks and involve employers in the design and evaluation of study programs. The paper includes survey of 1,342 Kazakh Ablai Khan University graduates of 2017 in terms of employability: 1) whether the University trains employable graduates; 2) examines whether gender discrimination affects the employment opportunities of graduates; 3) analyzes how university-business partnerships could add to quality learning.
Paper long abstract:
Important trends in the development of modern society are digitalization and the acceleration of technological changes that lead to the emergence of new fields of activity and new professions. The above trends and changes pose serious challenges for modern higher education. In response to these new challenges, higher education institutions in Kazakhstan continue to integrate into the global educational space, develop information technologies and e-education ("smart-learning"), attract foreign top managers to implement best practices, and develop partnerships with leading universities in the world. With this international integration, the role of international accreditation as an essential tool of quality assurance of education is growing dramatically. International accreditation provides assurance of the competitiveness of Kazakh universities in the national and international educational services market. A university that has passed the international accreditation receives a significant competitive advantage in the educational services market. International recognition, comparability and convertibility of qualifications of a university, confirmation of the high quality of education and services, and their compliance with international requirements; expands the potential and possibilities of international cooperation with leading universities of the world. Through these accreditation processes universities have the opportunity to assess the quality of activities and competing educational programs at a fundamentally new level and strengthens their competitive positions. This paper analyzes the issues of quality assurance in higher education of the universities that have been accredited by Independent Agency of Accreditation and Ratings.
Paper long abstract:
The internationalization of higher education (HEI) is one of the major factors and indicators of the quality of a university's activities, determining its competitiveness at the international level. It has become the significant resource for improving the quality and the top priority in Kazakhstan's educational policy over the past years due to globalization, intensification of international economic, political and cultural contacts and world labor market demands. The paper argues that nowadays the quality of education is determined and evaluated not only through pedagogical and educational parameters, but also through such efficient HEI strategies as accreditation and rating, harmonization of national and global standards, knowledge evaluation, foreign staff and students' involvement, graduates' quality assessment in accordance with the requirements of the labor market.
The aim of the paper is to analyze HEI's current trends, challenges and perspectives, reflected in the institutional policy, and international collaboration with foreign universities. Trends in academic mobility of students and faculty, growth of overseas students in universities, allocation of governmental funding for mobility and emergence of the new forms of internationalization, such as franchising are also examined.
The paper also considers the development of new curricula and study programs in English. I argue that the training of multilingual students and teaching staff and providing educational programs in English are the key factors of universities internationalization and integration into the world educational system. The analysis is based on 680 interviews with stakeholders, employees, foreign and Kazakhstani students and faculty - participants of academic mobility and franchising programs. Recommendations are provided for HEI implementation with account of the experience gained by Kazakh National Agrarian University.