Independent Kazakhstan Quality Assurance Agency for Education (IQAA)

Kazakhstan: a Higher Education system opening to Europe

skalanova@mail.ru

www.iqaa.kz

Professor Dr.Sci., PhD, Sholpan Kalanova

14 April 2015, Zaragoza

During the years of independence Kazakhstan established itself as an economically strong and stable country, a full member of the world community. Today Kazakhstan is a leading country in Central Asia.

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• Kazakhstan is 9th largest by

territory country in the

world

• Territory -2,7 mln sq. km

• Population17 439 271

persons (as for 1February 2015)

• 63rd place in the world by

population. Average population density is about 6,3 persons

per sq. km

• GDP – 212.250bln USD

• GDP per capita – 12,277USD

• The average wage is 120 455

tenges (~668 USD)

• Literacy rate - 99,6 %

• Percentage rate of

population older than 24

years with higher education

degree – 26,1% (as of 2009)

Facts and figures about Republic of Kazakhstan

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MAIN PARAMETERS OF THE SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION

National HEIs

State HEIsHEIs in form of JSC

JSC, international

Non-civil HEIsPrivate HEIs

Number of teaching staff – 41,6 thousandTeaching staff with advanced degrees – 49,7 %During 3 years the number of studentsdecreased more than by 20 %;- number of HEIs - by 22 %

Changing number of HEIs

(in units)Number of HEIs (in units)

Dynamics of number of

students (in thousands of

students)

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Total

Part-timeFull-time

THE STATE GRANT ON SPECIALISTS’ TRAINING INCREASES

EVERY YEAR

State HEIs – 345,000 tenges (1,865 USD)

National HEIs – 635,000 tenge (3,432 USD)

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The cost of the state grant

Including technical majors

Bachelor

Master

PhD

PhD

Master

Bachelor

Number of students by areas of study

programmes

№ Areas

2014-2015 academic year

Total

Students

with state

scholarship

%Students

with state

scholarship

Number of

students of

paid

department

Including in

private HEIs%

Total 473 820 143 007 30,2 330 813 152 904 32

1 Education 113 100 32 806 29 80 294 40 331 35,6

2Technical sciences and

technology111 695 49 270 44,1 62 425 36 571 32,7

3Social sciences,

economics and business79 525 4830 0,6 74 695 24 912 31,3

4 Law 44 559 2763 0,62 41 796 18 087 40

5 Medicine 37 269 24 558 66 12 711 1 918 5

6 Services 20 855 3943 19 16 912 6 292 30

7 Humanities 16 962 4519 27 12 443 10 196 60

8 Natural sciences 17 064 6929 40 10 135 4 055 23,7

9 Art 17 325 4260 24,5 13 065 5 289 30,5

10 Agricultural sciences 10 423 6476 62,1 3 947 3 679 35

11 Veterinary medicine 5043 2653 53 2 653 1 574 31 6

THE BOLOGNA PROCESSIn 1997 Kazakhstan was one of the first countries of CIS that signed and

ratified the Lisbon Convention on the recognition of qualifications

related to higher education in the European region. On 11 March 2010

Kazakhstan joined the Bologna process.

Principles of the Bologna process are realized:

three degree cycle: Bachelor-Master-PhD; the Kazakhstan model

of transferring ECTS credits; academic mobility of students and

teaching staff; European Diploma Supplement

In 2012 was established the Bologna Process and Academic

Mobility Center. The Strategy on Academic Mobility until 2020

has been adopted.

A National Framework of Qualifications compatible with theEuropean Framework of Qualifications has been adopted(presented in the Council of Europe; self-certification is conducted)

In the first half of this year Kazakhstan became a co-chair in theBologna process.

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For the first time the mechanism of state support for academic mobility and attracting foreign scientists has been launched

Academic mobility

Attracting foreign scientists

For the programme implementation was allocated 1 631 708,0 thousand tenge (2012 - 2014 ).During this period 1528 Bachelor and Master students acquired their education abroad.

For the programme implementation was allocated 7 259 956,0 thousand tenge (2012 - 2014 ).During this period 3387 foreign scientists have been invited.

From 1993 to 2013 in the framework of «Bolashak» scholarship 10346 students from Kazakhstan earned their degrees in 200 best universities of 33 countries.

«Bolashak»

Transfer of knowledge from top

world universities is taking place;

The competitiveness of Kazakh

students is increasing

Quality Assurance in Education

Kazakhstan has become a government member of EQAR since 2011

National Registry of accreditation agencies (2 national и 8 foreign agencies)

Kazakhstan standards of accreditation are based on the European quality standards

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Basic HEIs for training specialists by the State Programme on Industrial and Innovative Development-2

1. Eurasian National University named after L.Gumilyov

2. Kazakh National University named after al-Farabi

3. Kazakh National Agrarian University

4. Kazakh National Technical University named after K.Satpayev

5. East Kazakhstan State Technical University named after D.Serikbayev

6.Karaganda State Technical University

7.Pavlodar State University named after S.Toraigyrov

8.South Kazakhstan State University named after М.Auezov

9.Kostanay State University named after A.Baitursynov

10.Atyrau Institute of Oil and Gas

11.Kazakh Agrotechnical University named after S.Seifullin

Independent national accreditation in Kazakhstan as a model of quality

assurance in higher education

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National Accreditation Board

National register of accreditation organizations by the Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan

HEIs HEIs HEIs HEIs

Accreditation organization

Accreditation Board at the Agency

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Aim of accreditation: compliance with national and public interests on

oversight of education quality

trust

Account-ability

transparency

responsibility

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Quality Assurance Agencies

Higher Education Institutions

Government

Members of IQAA Accreditation Board

1. Employers – National Business Chamber - 2 person2. National Industrial Chamber - 1 person3. Representatives from NGOs, education organizations and

research centers – 2 people4. President of IQAA – 1 person5. International expert – 1 person6. Student representative - 1

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Meeting of the Accreditation Board

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…

programs

institutions

Transparency

Quality Assurance Model at the National Level in

accordance with ESG

External

Quality

Assurance

Aim: accountability,responsibility, quality, improvements

Focusing on:Target audience: government,students, education institutions, labor market

Methodology:peer-review, professional assessment, audit.

Steps of independent accreditation for education institutions in

Kazakhstan

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Step 1: Conducting training seminar

Step 1: Preparation of self-evaluation report

Step 2: Audit at the site

Step 3: Decision making by the Accreditation Board

Step 1: Application, drafting and signing of the contract

1 STEP - Preparation of self-evaluation reportSelf-evaluation has been part of accreditation

process since 1930 and is used by accrediting agencies from all over the world

It is a comprehensive assessment by the university's own representatives for defining its accordance with the standards of the agencies

Self-evaluation leads to the organizational study of the whole institution

Self-evaluation is an instrument of HEI’s self-improvement through re-evaluation of theindirectly presented information.

Self-evaluation is designed for internal use of the information by the university itself and stakeholders.

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Step 2 is conducted in accordance with ЕSG. Members of External Audit Commission

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Chair of the Commission Experts: Professor, Associate professor1-2 international experts (Experts from

24 countries have participated in the procedures conducted by IQAA)

Employer representativesStudent, student representative

of HEIs in KazakhstanAgency representative

Preliminary meeting of experts

Meeting with the HEI leadership

Site visit of the institution, visit of laboratories, libraries and departments

Interview with vice-rectors (provosts), responsible for different departments

Interview with faculty and staff

Interview with students

Interview with employers

Visits of selected classes according to the schedule

Final closed meeting21

Program of conducting external audit at HEI, carried out by IQAA

1. to accredit;2. to conditionally accredit up to 3 years, with an

opportunity of eliminating weaknesses;3. not to accredit;

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Follow-up procedures:

Monitoring of accreditation on the basis of the annual report on changes by the education institution

Elimination of comments on conditional accreditation for 1 year

General model of quality assuranceInternal quality assurance system (HEI) & external quality assurance (National system of independent accreditation)Self-evaluation report and external audit serve as the basis for external quality assurance and decision by the Accreditation BoardAccreditation by the independent agencies of MES Kazakhstan and ENQA from the National register of accrediting organizations and European register of EQAR

Accreditation of the agencies

External QAS

Internal QAS

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IQAA structure

President

Administrative Department:

Head

Chief accountant

Lawyer

Office-manager

Accreditation and Expertise

Department:

Head

Senior coordinators

Coordinators

Audit Department:

Head

Senior coordinators

Coordinators

Analysis and Quality

Department:

Head

Senior experts

Experts

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About IQAA

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The number of the Agency’s staff– 15 persons, academic staff with

advanced degrees – 70%, including 3 Full Professors, Doctors of

Sciences, 5 PhD, 2 graduates of President scholarship “Bolashak" and

Nazarbayev University

1. Participation in Tempus project on Documentation for Quality

Assurance of Study Programmes (DOQUP), 2012 – 2014

2. The winner of the tender for the implementation of the programme

with the Council of Europe «Support of education policy in the field of

democratic citizenship and education in the field of human rights in

Kazakhstan (2013, 2014)»

3. Participation in all events organized by ENQA

Activity of the Agency

- As for now the Agency has granted full accreditation to 45 out of 126

Kazakhstan higher education institutions;

- More than 840 study programmes in 30 HEIs from 4800 study

programmes;

- 1 higher education institution and 27 study programmes have been

accredited conditionally;

- 1 higher education institution and 8 study programmes have not been

accredited.

Only in 2014 in peer reviews participated about 1200 national experts,

including employers and students, and more than 120 foreign experts from

25 countries.

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Study of Kazakhstan experience by Representatives of Ministry of Education from Azerbaijan, 2014

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Conducting ENQA seminar for Central Asian countries on implementation of accreditation IQAA, December 2011

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