On February 7th of 2019, the 3rd meeting of the HSE Business Council was held at Hilton Astana hotel.
The mission of the HSE Business Council is to promote the development of world-class education in the HSE and formation of students’ knowledge and skills demanded in the labor market.

The members of the Business Council are senior managers of public and quasi-public sectors, as well as private companies. Namely, Kairat Sadvakassov, Deputy Chairman of the Board JSC, NC “Kazakh Tourism”, Marat Alissov, HR expert UNICEF, Indira Bersugurova, Executive Assistant Manager of Radisson Hotel Astana, Prof. Dr. Alexander Van de Putte, Chairman, AIFC Academic Council, Stephan Reiter, General Manager Hilton Hotel Astana, Laura Demessinova, Executive director of Bolashak Association, Erhat Iskaliev, Member of the Trustee Board, Institute SILK WAY, Mukhit Kossayev, Partner Audit, KPMG,  Aryn Orsariyev, Secretary General, Ministry of Education and Science Republic of Kazakhstan, Gulnara Kuldeeva, Managing Director, Kazakhstan Translation Academy, Member of APPPK, Bekhruz Akhundov, General Manager, Eurasian Investments Platform, Member of APPPK, Gulshan Aliyev, Partner, Gala Global Group, Chairman of APPPK, Anna Loyenko, General Manager, Kazakhstan Translation Academy, Member of APPPK, Alzhan Arapbai, General Manager, Gala Global Group, Member of APPPK, Marat Zaurbeckov, Operations Manager, Gala Global Group, , Zhansulu Mukhamejanova, AIFC Academy, Anuar Beibytov, Director at Astana Protocol,  Timur Abilkassymov, HSE Senior lecturer at M. Narikbayev KAZGUU University,  Saltanat Konuspaeva, Head of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Interpretation Department, Talgat Narikbayev Rector of M. Narikbayev KAZGUU University, Dilbar Gimranova, Director of Higher School of Economics at M. Narikbayev KAZGUU University.
The Dean of the Higher School of Economics Dilbar Gimranova opened the meeting with the report of the 2018 strategy implementation results.
The meeting continued with the speech of Prof. Dr. Alexander Van de Putte, Chairman of AIFC Academic Council on status and prospects of corporate governance in Kazakhstan. The speech continued with questions and active discussion session from various stakeholders and guests of the meeting.

Moreover, the HSE administration was encouraged to conduct Alumni Salary Survey and communicate the results of it to the Business Council.

The other hot topic concerning Tourism program perspectives has been presented by Kairat Sadvakasov. He recommended to develop a program on Tourism Destination, highlighted the need for professionals with specific skills and competences in Destination Management, Destination Marketing and Destination Analysis. In addition, an innovative practice oriented program which is meant to engage the students of Tourism major was discussed, where 10 to 15 students will be participating throughout the entire course. Eventually, the selected students will become highly qualified professionals of the industry.

The next speaker, Marat Alissov, Administrative HR associate at UNICEF presented a valuable information regarding the United Nations Volunteer program. Marat proposed to launch an extracurricular program for graduating class students on Developing Employment Skills; he also reiterated the importance of providing motivational programs for the youth.

The members of the Business Council discussed development priorities of the HSE certain degree programs and perspectives of graduate employment in the national and international labor market. Gala Translations Partner, Anna Loyenko pointed out the need for developing IT related competencies for Translation Studies program. Saltanat Konuspaeva, Head of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Interpretation Department appreciated high-level of preparation of HSE Translation Studies program graduates and once again welcomed HSE Translation Studies students for an internship practice.
We would like to thank all the members of the HSE Business Council for their valuable contribution to discussions!