Establishment of the National register on accreditation

On May 31, 2012 in Astana there was a first meeting of the Accreditation Council at the Ministry of education and science of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In course of the meeting, the Council established the National Register of accreditation agencies №1 for higher education institutions and colleges. Among 6 accreditation agencies, 2 are from Kazakhstan, 4 foreign (2 – from Germany, 1 – from Austria, 1 – from the USA). Among agencies, which were included in the National register, one is the Independent Kazakh Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (IQAA). This was an important event in the sphere of developing the quality assurance of higher education in Kazakhstan.

The government, in form of the Ministry of education and science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, delegated the part of their duties on the quality assurance of education to the competitive environment. Thus, it realizes the government policy on the development of the public and private partnerships. The national accreditation agencies operate as non-governmental, non-commercial organizations. It is also important to highlight the openness and transparency of current reforms to both the market of services on the quality assurance. The National register includes not only national, but also recognized foreign agencies for quality assurance. All foreign accreditation organizations are included either in the European Quality Assurance Register for Higher Education (EQAR), or recognized by the national register in its own country (in case of the agency from the USA). It is initiated with the purpose to provide higher education institutions in Kazakhstan with the right for choice and access to the best services on quality assurance, both among national and among foreign accreditation agencies.

The first meeting of the Accreditation council was carried out under the supervision of the Vice-minister of education and science, Orunkhanov Murat Kadesovich. The Accreditation Council includes the representatives of the Mazhilis of the Republic of Kazakhstan, association of Kazakhstani universities, representatives of the Ministry of education and science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and other stakeholders. Among foreign guests, apart for the representatives of foreign agencies, there was a Director of the Secretariat of the European Register for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (EQAR) Colin Tuk.

Prior to the meeting of the Accreditation Council, there was a holding of the workshop seminar on accreditation for Kazakhstani universities. The report of the IQAA was on the topic of the national model of accreditation in Kazakhstan. The seminar and the meeting of the Accreditation Council were attended by more than 70 Kazakhstani universities.