New law goes into effect: new rectors appointed by President
April 24th, 2008 by kzblog
The new law “On Education” has been drafted and passed. It aims to modernize Kazakhstan’s education system and bring it in line with international standards. While the law did call for 12 year secondary schooling, in his Address to the People in February, President Nazarbayev stated that it was too soon and schools were not ready. Some provisions in the law are clear in their purpose of modernization–the transfer to a credit system as the US, the UK, and Europe have is already underway and technology is entering the classroom.
Other provisions of the bill seem to increase centralization and government interference, something not in line with modern systems of education. The bill calls for closing all branches of universities–so that only main campuses will exist. Furthermore universities will be rigorously evaluated and any universities not making the grade will be closed. These two provisions will have the effect of cutting the number of universities in the country by 50% especially outside Almaty and Astana where many universities are in effect branches of major universities.
Finally, rectors are to be appointed by the President directly, which he did for the first time on the 21st of April. The list of new rectors alone gives an idea of the severity of the situation: 8 public universities and institutes in a country of 16 000 000 000 people.
In meeting with the new rectors Nazarbayev emphasized that national universities get more money from the government and therefore must contribute more to the welfare of the country. He also noted that KIMEP (a joint public-private university), has a better rate of graduates with jobs than other universities. Finally he emphasized that corruption in education must be wiped out.
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