MAQSUT NARIKBAYEV UNIVERSITY
Astana is hosting international and Kazakhstani professors from the world’s leading universities who came together for the international conference ‘Academic integrity in the context of university governance’. For a second year, KAZGUU University has been chosen as a platform for discussing this topical for our country issue.
According to S. Ismagulova, deputy director of the local department of the Ministry of Science and Education, following the principles of academic integrity in higher education is one of the priority tasks set by President Nazarbayev in his article ‘Look into the future: Modernisation of social consciousness’.
– High quality of education is a fundamental factor of young people’s success in their future. At the moment, the system of higher education is undergoing a reform aimed at providing universities with academic, managerial, and financial independence. On the other hand, this gives them a lot of responsibility in ensuring high quality of educational services and forming the modern youth’s mind-set, emphasised S. Ismagulova.
Among the systemic measures taken in this direction, the representative of the Ministry noted the work on preventing corruption among the teaching staff and the students; the launch of web sites; the implementation of academic integrity codes; the work of student CSCs; and the implementation of feedback channels for students and their parents.
In turn, KAZGUU University’s rector, T. Narikbayev, invited the participants of the conference to open a dialogue, and noted each of their role in overcoming corruption in the academic environment.
He said he was certain that ‘the hard work of instilling the high moral and ethical principles into the young generation of Kazakhstani citizens must start from the kindergarten. And it should connect all the stages of personality building: family, school, university, and employment. Our country will never become competitive without teaching our highly qualified specialists to be honest’.
As part of the conference, leading scholars and researchers from the major academic centres of the USA, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Uzbekistan, Russia, and Kazakhstan, exchange their international experiences in developing the culture of research excellence; discuss the principles of academic integrity, and the new conceptual solutions in the internal and external functions of university governance.
Luk Van Langenhove, a senior advisor on European strategy at Warwick University; Alexander Van de Putte, Chairman of the Academic Council of the Astana International Financial Centre; and Alisher Faizullaev, Professor and Director of the Negotiation Laboratory, University of World Economy and Diplomacy, have noted in their presentations that it is necessary to develop the culture of professional research excellence.
The partners at the conference were: the Astana International Financial Centre; the KAZGUU Qazaq Institute of Development Studies (QIDS); and the KAZGUU Centre for International Law (KCIL)
The event was organised jointly by the KAZGUU Higher School of Economics and Nazarbayev University.
