Al-Farabi Kazakh National University

Al-Farabi Kazakh National University is the leading institution of the system of higher education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which was the first to pass the state certification and which has justified its right to realize academic activity on all specialties and at all levels.

Al-Farabi KazNU is the leader of the General rating of the universities of Kazakhstan, which was the first laureate in the history of the country of the Presidential award of the Republic of Kazakhstan “For achievements in the area of quality”, a laureate of the Award of the CIS for achievements in the area of quality and services .

Our university, being a member of the International Association of universities and the Co-founder of the Eurasian Association of universities, was the first among the universities of Kazakhstan and countries of Central Asia which has signed the Great Charter of Universities in Bologna; it has successfully passed the international certification on the correspondence to the system of quality management (SQM), the requirements of international standards ISO 9000:2000 and has obtained the certifications from the largest global certification centers – the International Certification System IQNET.The University has an enormous educational, scientific, spiritually educational, innovative and production potential which is aimed to the training of specialists of the highest qualification, further integration into the global educational space, development of fundamental and applied research, their implementation into production.Today al-Farabi KazNU offers you a wide range of specialties.The university consists of 16 functioning faculties, 67 departments, 32 scientific research institutes and centers, a techno-park; more than 2000 professors, doctors, scientific candidates and PhD’s, more than 100 academicians of the largest academies, more than 40 honored figures of the Republic of Kazakhstan, about 40 laureates of State and nominal awards of RK and 40 laureates of the young scientists’ awards, 47 fellows of state scientific fellowships. More than 18000 students and masters at the multilevel system of higher professional education study in the university. We cooperate with 418 largest international universities of the world on the realization of joint international educational programs, exchange programs for students and internship.

Educational and educational activities

Currently, world-class research universities are not only higher educational institutions that provide quality education, intellectual and cultural development, but also effective forms of integration of education, science and industry, creating competitive human capital for the state. According to the development strategy of KazNU until 2020, a complete modernization of the educational process, diversification of educational programs (bachelor's-master's-doctoral PhD) was carried out in order to harmonize the content of education with internationally recognized leading foreign universities.In the 2012-2013 academic year, in accordance with the directions formulated by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N.A. Nazarbayev, and taking into account the views of employers in the KazNU named after Al-Farabi has developed innovative educational and professional programs that meet international standards and ensure that students acquire the professional competencies they need, increasing their competitiveness in the Kazakhstani and international labor markets. To form new curricula, which are the basis of any educational program, a detailed analysis of the State Compulsory Education Standards, as well as the programs of Nazarbayev University and leading foreign universities:

Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburg, University College London (UCL), Heidelberg Universität, Munchen Universität , Sorbonne, Strasbourg, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard, Stanford, Yale and others. Based on the analysis carried out, drafts of new basic curricula were developed for KazNU. Al-Farabi in natural-technical and social-humanitarian areas, in which the focus of specialties is taken into account, an interdisciplinarity of training and a competence-modular approach to the formation of the content of education are provided.

The developed basic curricula are focused on taking into account the competence requirements of employers, strengthening the practical training and scientific component of each specialty. In these programs, the overwhelming number of credits (~ 90%) is allocated to the professional block of disciplines, which, in turn, consists of a STEM-forming module (STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematic), basic professional (compulsory) modules, individual educational trajectories and interdisciplinary module. At the same time, elective modules of individual educational trajectories account for only about 25% of credits, which makes it possible to strengthen basic vocational training.

The list of elective disciplines is based on a comprehensive analysis of the needs of the labor market, and also reflects current trends in the development of science. Catalogs of elective disciplines for all levels of education are formed in three languages ​​- Kazakh, Russian and English. A meaningful restructuring of the curriculum of specialties has been carried out: bachelor's disciplines are combined in the following cycles:

- general disciplines (OOD)

;- humanitarian disciplines (DG)

;- professional disciplines (PD).

Packages of documents for each specialty have been developed, the share of elective disciplines in the professional block has been increased to 60%, which gives more opportunities for individualizing training within the framework of one's own learning path.In accordance with the program of transformation of the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University into a research one, there is a tendency to reduce bachelor's specialties (at the expense of pedagogical, which provide training for secondary school teachers) with a simultaneous increase in master's and PhD doctoral specialties. So, in the 2013-2014 academic year, training in 6 pedagogical specialties ends.

Within the framework of the ongoing Program for the transformation of the university and the transition from the classical type to a new model of research at the KazNU named after Al-Farabi, work was carried out to increase the scientific and pedagogical potential of the departments through their enlargement and redistribution of specialties between them, according to professional specializations for the training of qualified specialists. At the same time, there was a steady growth in the number of students in postgraduate education programs: Master's and PhD programs from the total number of students. The number of master's and doctoral specialties is twice as high as the number of bachelor's degrees, and the university occupies a leading position among the universities of the Republic of Kazakhstan in terms of the number of master's and doctoral students.