Kazakhstani universities are becoming centers for development of local communities, says Kazakh minister

Nazarbayev University played host to the 1st Scientific and Practical Conference NU ARC-2024, dedicated to the 125th anniversary of founder of the Kazakh Academy of Sciences Kanysh Satbayev, in the Kazakh capital of Astana. The event brought together over 400 participants, including up to 40 academic experts, Kazinform News Agency reports.

Addressing the Conference, Kazakh Science and Higher Education Minister Sayassat Nurbek pointed to the transformation of Kazakhstani universities at local and global levels.

The first mission of universities is education, the second is science. The third mission is social. Over the past 50 years, many concepts have emerged. Presently, academic circles and businesses are increasingly intertwined. Kazakhstan’s universities are becoming centers for development of local communities, said Nurbek.

The minister used the example of the program for elders at one of the universities of Kokshetau, launched three years ago.

This was a great success for the society, leading to the striking results. The most popular courses among elders were the English language, Python programming language, data science, software development, web-design and so on. Moreover, the elders became more active, more engaged in the community, organized councils, started assisting local authorities. So, instead to staying at home after retirement, they had a chance to actively engage in the lives of local communities, said Nurbek.

The Kazakh minister also highlighted the economic role of universities, that are now the anchor for the country.

Kazakhstan actively promotes and tries to position itself as an academic center of the entire region. That’s why, currently we’re attracting many universities. Universities are not only the place to study or to conduct research, but also the economic anchor. They attract investments, people, students and talents, said the minister, providing the 5th World Nomad Games as the example, which attracted around hundreds of thousands of students from all over the world.

Nurbek also spoke about the development of research science in the country.

Our country made changes to the legislation by adopting the new law on science and technological policy. Ways of allocating funds for research plans are being changed. All the major industrial enterprises are now partnering with us. Bringing together universities and research institutes, hackathons and industrial research are being conducted. Our researchers are sent to major industrial enterprises for about a week, seeking solutions, for which industries, factories and plants have never had time, resources or desire, concluded the Kazakh minister.