II Annual Eurasian Forum on Quality Assurance in Education "Transformation through Digitalization: Universities and Quality Assurance"

On September 16, 2019, the Independent Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (IQAA) held the II Annual Eurasian Forum on Quality Assurance in Education "Transformation through Digitalization: Universities and Quality Assurance Systems" at the Bureau for Continuing Professional Development (BCPD).

The annual Eurasian Forum on Quality Assurance in Education is a platform for discussing relevant topics in the field of higher education. Over 170 people who represented 42 Kazakhstani universities, including national universities and Nazarbayev University, experts, representatives of employers and students, attended the Forum.

In addition, foreign representatives of six countries attended the event: the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Kyrgyzstan. This indicates the great interest of the modern educational community and the labor market in the issue of digitalization.

The theme of this year's forum was not chosen by chance - the digitalization of Kazakhstan is recognized as one of the key factors in the development of the state. The integration of modern technologies, innovative development and technological updating are directly related to the education system and, as a result, to quality assurance.

The forum consisted of two parts: panel and parallel sessions. This format of the program of the event allowed all participants to cover as many topics of interest to them as possible in the context of digital education.

 

The forum's key speakers were President of the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR), Professor Karl Dittrich, and Chief Executive of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) Douglas Blackstock. Forum participants had the opportunity to get relevant information from world leading experts in the field of quality assurance.

 

In his welcome note, the Chairman of the Committee for the Development of Human Capital and Social Business Policy of the NCE “Atameken” Presidium Talgat Doskenov outlined that digitalization has become one of the main trends in the development of the economy. Elmira Seydazimova, Deputy CEO of the Bureau for Continuing Professional Development, in her welcoming address wished all participants an interesting progress in the work of the Forum.

 

The Chairman of the IQAA Supervisory Board Zhaksybek Kuleekeev continued the plenary session of the Forum.

 

The audience was greatly interested in the speeches of the provost on the academic work of Satbayev University Rinat Iskakov, the IQAA President Sholpan Kalanova and the director of BTS Education Company Sayasat Nurbek. The speakers shared their vision on the current trend in higher education and quality assurance. Thanks to the discussion that the participants generated during their presentation, everyone came to the general conclusion that “you need to run as fast as you can just to stay in place, but in order to get somewhere - you need to run at least twice as fast”.

 

From among the foreign speakers, Deputy Director also made reports for international development and distance learning of the Institute for Innovative Education of the Kiev National University of Construction and Architecture, Professor Olesya Linovitskaya and Chairman of the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Education and Scientific Research (ANACEC), Professor Andrey Kichuk. Session moderator Dean of the Graduate School of Education, Nazarbayev University, Aida Sagintayeva initiated a discussion regarding the features of quality assurance of digital education. In the second part of the Forum, three parallel sessions were held. Representatives of higher education institutions and organizations were represented among the speakers:

- the vice-rector of the International Information Technologies University, Timur Umarov;

- the director of the Department of Educational Statistics and Information Systems Support of the Information and Analytical Center of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Azat Tishtybaev;

- the first vice-rector, Director of the Institute for Education Development AlmaU, Almagul Kanagatova;

- the head Department of International Cooperation of the E.A. Buketov Qaragandy State University, Yelena Minayeva;

- the Director of the Institute of New Educational Technologies of the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Assel Moussinova;

- the Head of the Department of Software Engineering, Head of the IT Center of the Atyrau State University named after Kh.Dosmukhamedov, Zhanna Gabbasova.

 

During the parallel sessions, the participants were presented with an extensive selection of topics for speakers' speeches within the main area of the Forum, which allowed everyone to extract the most relevant information for themselves and ask questions of interest. All sessions were very productive and interactive, and caused interesting discussions.

The final speaker of the II annual Eurasian Forum on Quality Assurance in Education “Transformation through Digitalization: Universities and Quality Assurance” was the rector of Yessenov University, Berik Akhmetov, who spoke about the redesign of higher education in the context of digitalization. Full programme of the forum is available here.

 

It is important to emphasize the high level of professionalism of all the moderators who directed the Forum and initiated discussions. Among them were such significant persons in the field of Kazakhstani education as the Chairman of the IQAA Accreditation Council Sergey Udartsev, advisor to the Nazarbayev University Research and Innovation System, Yerzhan Syrgaliyev, member of the IQAA Accreditation Council, advisor to the Chairman of the "Kasipkor" Holding Board Gennady Gamarnik.

 

A highly topical programme of the Forum, reports of speakers and discussions allowed all participants to receive irreplaceable knowledge from leaders in the field of education and quality assurance.

Forum materials will be available to participants only and sent in person by email. Photos are available here: https://cloud.mail.ru/public/3WMx/3VZZV91FP.