Public Policy of Higher Education Reforms in Kazakhstan

Type: 
Seminar
Audience: 
Open to the Public
Building: 
Nador u. 9, Monument Building
Room: 
203
Friday, June 13, 2008 - 11:00am
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Date: 
Friday, June 13, 2008 - 11:00am to 12:00pm

Chair: Sophie Howlett, Dean of CEU Special and Extension Programs

Government efforts to reform higher education in Kazakhstan could be seen as responses to globalization challenges. While the government played a leading role in both initiation and implementation of changes, the reforms appeared to be largely contradictory, inconsistent, and incomplete. The widespread practice of modification or adjusting to Western educational terminology, tools and processes according to local needs contradicted the original intent of the public policy to integrate with the world educational community and became closer to recognized international standards. The lecture described the main directions of public policy in higher education in Kazakhstan in recent years such as restructuring of the academic degree structure and implementation of the U.S. type of credit hour system in universities.

Nikolai Mouraviev has educational background both from Russia and the United States of America. He received his undergraduate and doctorate degrees in Economics from Moscow State University and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin. His teaching experience includes three years at Moscow State University as well as seven years in the US, including Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Since 2002 Dr Mouraviev has been working in Central Asia, first for an USAID educational project, and currently at Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics, and Strategic Research (KIMEP) in Almaty.

Select publications:

  • The Globalization Challenge: Transformation of Higher Education in Kazakhstan. Joining the World Globalization Processes of the 21st Century or Reshuffling of the Sets? In the proceedings of the Tenth Conference of the European Society of Central Asian Studies (ESCAS) "Central Asia: Sharing Experiences and Prospects". Ankara, 2007.
  • Education on the Basis of Credit Hour System (credit hour system, academic programs and degree structure, accreditation of universities: the U.S. experience). USAID. Almaty, Kazakhstan, 2004.
  • The Bologna Agreement: Implications for Universities in Central Asia. (Co-author Dr. Thomas Dobbelstein, Germany). REFORMA (Quarterly International Economic Journal), Issue 1(21), January 2004, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, p. 51-53 (in Russian) and p. 46-48 (in English).