The National Center for the Education Quality Assessment of the Education & Science Department of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Astana, e-mail: [email protected]
The reforms, having carried out in the Kazakhstan higher education system in the recent years, have been realizing, for the purpose of the further integration in the world educational space and the educational standards with the international requirements and the demands compliance providing [1].
Thus, for several years, the purposeful work on the conditions provision for the Bolognese process accession by the Republic higher education system has been undertaken. In the end, the Kazakhstan Republic has been become the 47-th country, having accepted into the Bolognese club at March, 11, 2010.
Then, it should be mentioned, the Kazakhstan, one from the first CIS States and the Powers, has signed and has ratified the Lisbon Convention by its qualifications recognition, having related to the higher education just in the European region, still in 1997. It has actively been studied the European powers’ and the countries’ experience, the most positive processes of which, have already been adapted to the Kazakhstan practice in the Republic. So the higher school educational reforms have already been resulted in the Kazakhstan Institutes of higher education, the Kazakhstan Academies, the Kazakhstan Colleges, the Kazakhstan Universities and the Kazakhstan Scientific Centers strategies, their internal and the domestic structure, the teaching and the educational process management and the organization principles transformation.
The Popular, Comparable Qualifications Introduction in the field of the higher education became one from the most necessary steps on the educational systems harmonization, having started since 2004, when МОН KR has approved the academic undergraduate and the academic graduate specialities Classifier [2], having provided its comparability with The International Standard Classification of the Education – ISCO, having accepted by the UNESCO. The higher and the postgraduate education Classifier has been put into the force since September 2009, in correspondence with the educational levels, having accepted by all the countries and the powers participants of the Bolognese Agreement: the undergraduate school, the magistracies, the doctoral candidacy. So, the Classifier Specialities’ Groups are quite identical to the ISCO educational fields. The next task solution – is the transfer to the higher education three – stage system (e.g. the undergraduate studies – the magistrates – the doctoral candidacy) is directed at all the teaching and learning levels succession management providing, the educational quality improvement and the further perfection, at the expense of the educational programs excessive content duplication removal, and the educational and the teaching process scientific component strengthening. So, since 1994, the baccalaureate educational programs have being realized in the Kazakhstan, and the magistrates – in 1996. Thus, the pilot project implementation on the domestic Philosophy Doctors (PhD) preparation has being begun, since 2005.
The credit units unified system introduction, that is the teaching credit system for the educational programs comparability providing and the students’ and the learners’ mobility principle realization, is the one from the Bolognese Agreement’s conditions. At present, the teaching credit system has been completely introduced in the Kazakhstan. After all, the main principles and the major instruments of this system have already been accepted by the academic, the administrative, the managerial personnel, and the Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers students and the learners. So, it is also observed the deep and the successive PPS participation just in the courses transformation, the educational programs and the dialogue with the students’ and the learners’ organization.
The further integration into the world educational space is the one from the main targets of the teaching and the training credit technology introduction in the Kazakhstan, in correspondence with the accepted international obligations and the assumed international liabilities.
The necessary documents acknowledgement of the challenge solution on the education, the educational standards and the programs unification, with due regard for the world tendencies, the sequence, the students’ and the learners’ educational and the training activity step-by-step procedure, the academic freedom, and also the curricula and the study programs variability are the credit technology universally recognized advantages and the generally accepted virtues.
The 62 Kazakhstan higher education Institutions, including the Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers the reports analysis on the teaching and the training credit technology introduction, the final results of which were given below, had been carried out by the education quality assessment National Center.
The КСО Introduction Stages in the Kazakhstan Institutes of Higher Education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers. The Education and the Science Department has recommended the leading Republic Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers to begin the first course students’ teaching and the first course learners’ training the academic economic specialities, on the basis of the teaching and the training credit technology, since 1, September, 2003 г.
So, the main part of the Kazakhstan Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers have already been transferred all the academic specialities’ students and the learners for the КСО in the period from 2003 till 2007 – es. At this given moment, the teaching and the training are being carried out by the academic credits system in all the country’s Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers, and also this system’s main instruments have already been accepted by the academic, the administrative, and the managerial personnel, and by the Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers students and the learners.
The special credits system introduction mechanisms by the ECTS type have being developed, since 2009, by the on the RК Education and the Science Department commission.
The КСО Legal and Normatively Basis Formation. The much work on the legal and normatively basis formation of the teaching and the learning credit technology, having regulated the basis requirements and the major demands on the teaching and the educational process organization and the conduction just in the framework of the teaching and the leaning credit technology, has been done and successively carried out by the Education and the Science Department.
The teaching and the training credit technology Rules, before this period, having realized in the experiment regime, have been developed in 2005.
In accordance with the RK «On the Education» Law [1]:
● «The teaching and the educational process organization Rules on the credit technology» have been approved;
● «The Instructive Letter on the teaching and the educational process organization in the Republic higher educational Institutions on the teaching and the training credit technology» has been developed;
● «The progress in studies, the intermediate and the final assessment, having learnt in the higher educational Institutions current inspection conduction standard rules» have been approved;
● The 19 standard regulations have been developed, in accordance with the КСО and also the other normative legal documents.
The Structural Changes in the Institutes of Higher Education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers. The teaching and the training credit technology introduction in the Kazakhstan Institutes of higher education, the Kazakhstan Academies, the Kazakhstan Colleges, the Kazakhstan Universities and the Kazakhstan Scientific Centers has considerably been changed the University’s structural units the main functions, the major authorities, and also the responsibility. Thus, the Universities main structures’ reorganization has been carried out, for the purposes of the credit – hours system improvement and the further perfection in the Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers.
So, the new structural unit – the registration Department has been created just in all the Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers, in accordance with Rules. The registration Department main task is being consisted in the students’ and the learners’ assistance in the main target achievement – the Degree receiving on the chosen speciality.
The Teaching and the Training Process Planning and Its Organization. The teaching and the training credit technology introduction has been demanded the main Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers documents considerable changes:
● the education State obligatory for all standards;
● the standard educational programs.
So, the State obligatory standards development of the higher and the postgraduate education is being carried out by all the academic specialities in the basic Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers, in accordance with the teaching and the training credit technology demands. After all, some generations of the education State obligatory for all standards by the baccalaureate and the magistracy academic specialities on the teaching and the training credit technology have already been developed.
For the first time, the doctoral candidacy academic specialities have already been introduced into the higher and the postgraduate education academic specialities Classifier in 2009.
The preparation provision to all types of the studies and the occupations by the necessary sources of the information receiving on the paper media and the electronic carriers (e.g. UMKD and the syllabi, the test items and the tasks packages (e.g. the electronic case), the reference-informational kits and the educational and the training manuals for the teaching and the training organization with the active forms and the methods use, the studies organization new methods have been widely involved in them – the video – lectures, the video – seminars, the round tables, the interaction virtual forms application at the laboratory and the practical types of the studies and the others) has been become one from the most important and the most significant students’ and the learners’ teaching and the learning organization moments.
The КСО Information Support. In the last and the current years, the information support in the Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers has been made its considerably break – through. So, the information technologies application, as in the teaching and the educational process, well as in the Institute of higher education, the Academy, the College, the University and the Scientific Center management, on the whole, is being permitted to be raised the workers’ activity efficiency, and also to be increased the production information exchange rate. At the given moment, all the Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers have their own cites, where the complete information on the Institute of higher education, the Academy, the College, the University and the Scientific Center activity, and also the full access to the information on the student’s and the learner’s current progress in his studies and etc., have been reflected. Moreover, the TV – technologies application in the educational and the teaching process, the electronic reading hall creation, the Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers educational portal formation, the virtual laboratories with the access – Internet, the multimedia classes, having equipped with the projectors, and also with the interactive blackboards, are being practiced.
The Universities are being used the analytical – informationally management systems, and the educational and the teaching process control for the management mechanism improvement and the further perfection and the educational activity control, on the basis of the automated information systems, such as «Platon», «PROFITSOFT», «Lotus Notes», the academic studies timetable scheduling blocks and the others.
The Progress in Studies Dynamics through the КСО Transfer All the Years. So, with every academic and the school year, it is being observed the students’ and the learners’ absolute progress in their studies rise in all the Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers. First of all, this is being connected with the fact, that the mark – rating form of the students’ and the learners’ progress in their studies control is being permitted to be carried out the continuous monitoring for the student’s and the learner’s activity during the term and, more exactly, to be differentiated the mark, depending on the acquired knowledge and the skills level. This is also being contributed to the students’ and the learners’ regular and the purposeful independent work provision on the educational program mastering and the training program learning, to the uniform load, and also it is being given the progress in their studies constant control possibility by the students and the learners, the teachers and the lecturers themselves, and also to the teaching and the training quality rise, and to the students’ and the learners’ knowledge strength.
By some Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers data, the most stable per cent of the progress in their studies is at the students and the learners, having studied by the State educational grants (e.g. from 88,4 up tо 100 %), for all this, the biggest per cent of the non – achievers and the underachievers from the given category – these are the students and the learners, having learnt on the fee and the payment basis.
Among the Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers opinion, and there are the insignificant reductions rate, – this has been resulted in the knowledge control system quite new technologies introduction, in the teaching and the educational process complete transparency, in the demands increase, in the examinations passing in the writing form introduction.
The Students’ and the Learners’ Educational Achievements Control Forms and the Procedures. For the students’ and the learners’ educational achievements inspection have already been provided the students’ and the learners’ knowledge control following types and the forms:
● the current control and the inspection;
● the foreign control and the inspection;
● the final control and the inspection.
Thus, all the control and the inspection types, including the final one, are quite able to be carried out, as in the traditional (e.g. the oral examination), well as in the innovation (e.g. the testing, the discussion sessions and the meetings and the others) forms. On the whole, the computer testing, which is being permitted to be tested a great number of the users, and it is being helped the following functions: the data registration on the tested peoples; the tasks (e.g. the tests) distribution; the tests and the answers variants, the results assessment recording into the data base – is the final control and the inspection form in many Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers.
So, the students’ and the learners’ educational achievements recording will be permitted at all the stages:
● firstly, to be given the quite right assessment to the students’ and the learners’ mastering level by the educational programs;
● secondly, to be carried out the systematic recording of the received knowledge quality and, that is very significant, by the skills (e.g. the home made control and the inspection) in the process of the educational programs mastering;
● thirdly, to be provided the procedures transparency, having carried out the students’ and the learners’ preparation quality marks at all the control and the inspection stages;
● fourthly, to be given the objective quality assessment of the students’ and the learners’ educational – occupationally programs mastering, in accordance with the GOSO’s demands.
So, the student’s and the learner’s total assessment by the academic discipline is being formed, by means of the points and the marks summing up for the foreign and the final knowledge controls and the inspections, having received during the whole term. For all this, the obligatory demand of the student’s and the learner’s interim certification completeness on the academic discipline is the quite positive mark by the final examination.
On the whole, it is quite significantly to be noted that the students’ and the learners’ educational achievements assessment accepted system is being permitted the following:
● to be revealed the educational and the teaching process organization and the control correspondence degree by the specialists’ preparation and the experts’ training modern scientific requirements;
● to be received the necessary information on the educational and the teaching process real state;
● to be evaluate the teacher’s and the lecturer’s activity final results;
● to be stimulated the teacher’s and the lecturer’s active pedagogical – scientifically activity;
● to be formulated the students’ and the learners’ motivation to the future occupational activity;
● to be regulated the educational and the teaching process course and its further progress;
● to be created the systematization, the objectivity, and the transparency conditions of the students’ and the learners’ knowledge assessment and the performance score;
● to be generalized the new educational technology introduction experience.
The Academic Mobility is being promoted the higher education quality improvement and the further perfection, the scientific researches efficiency rise, the management system improvement and the further perfection, the external and the internal integration ties establishment in the sphere of the higher education.
The academic mobility is being realized in the Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers through the academic exchanges and the interchanges with the other Institutes of higher education, the other Academies, the other Colleges, the other Universities and the other Scientific Centers, in accordance with the agreements between the partners – the Institutes of higher education, the partners – the Academies, the partners – the Colleges, the partners – the Universities and the partners – the Scientific Centers, between the contracts with the international organizations, the foundations and the funds, and also the other organizations.
Thus, for the question «The Academic Mobility: (there is, no, what is it)?» from the 62 Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers, they have been answered: there is – the 16 Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers; at the realization stage (there is, but they have not been indicated the quantity) – the 41 Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers; they have not been answered – the 5 Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers.
So, the Kazakhstan 62 Institutes of higher education, the Kazakhstan Academies, the Kazakhstan Colleges, the Kazakhstan Universities and the Kazakhstan Scientific Centers data analysis has already been shown, that the academic mobility has been developed insufficiently in the Kazakhstan, the Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers are not being created the special conditions in that form, as they are in the Europe. Thus, the internal mobility is quite absent, absolutely, in the Kazakhstan. So, nowadays, the internal mobility support special mechanisms and the corresponding programs have not yet been completely developed.
In the end, the academic mobility development main barriers and the major obstacles in the Kazakhstan are the following:
● the organizational challenges, that is, the student’s and the learner’s accommodation in the hostel, the new conditions creation at the profile academic discipline study;
● the study periods recognition issues;
● the students’ and the learners’ and Institutes’ of higher education, the Academies’, the Colleges’, the Universities’ and the Scientific Centers’ low level motivation;
● the special financing absence, that is, the defined and the specified fund, having directed at the further mobility development.
So, it is necessary widely to be developed the academic mobility inside the country, to be given the possibility the students and the learners to be studied the separate academic disciplines in the other Institutes of higher education, the other Academies, the other Colleges, the other Universities and the other Scientific Centers, which, without fail, must be re – passed, and be given a re – credit. The students’ and the learners’ teaching and the training or the special academic disciplines insufficiently courses’ study in the profile Institutes of higher education, the profile Academies, the profile Colleges, the profile Universities and the profile Scientific Centers to be put into their practice by the private Institutes of higher education, the private Academies, the private Colleges, the private Universities and the private Scientific Centers.
The Transfer and the Credits’ Re-Passing European System Introduction (ECTS). The main regulations of the teaching and the training credit technology, having introduced in the Kazakhstan, have already been borrowed just from the American system, and they are quite differed from the ECTS system, having adopted in the Europe. In this connection, the much active work is being carried out by the European Credits Transfer System (ECTS) introduction, which must be functioned simultaneously with the National Credit System (NCS). On this purpose, the working group has already been created on «The Credit Units System Development on the Credit Technology, by the European Credits Transfer System (ECTS) Type in the Kazakhstan Republic».
At the given moment, the preparatory work has already been carried out and the complete approval and the approbation on the transfer system and the ECTS credits accumulation introduction in the Kazakhstan, which must be promoted the students’ and the learners’ mobility development, their study periods recognition just in the foreign Institutes of higher education, the foreign Academies, the foreign Colleges, the foreign Universities and the foreign Scientific Centers, and also to be created the main and the necessary possibilities for the joint educational projects realization with the European Union’s (EU) countries.
So, the regional educational and the training seminars have already been carried out, on the basis of the 18 Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers by the National Center of the education quality assessment, in accordance with «The Credit Points System Introduction on the Credit Technology by the ECTS Type» project in the 11 towns and the cities of the country. So, the 68 Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers representatives have taken their participation at all these seminars work, and, moreover, the listeners’ total number has been 1,262 at them.
Thus, it is necessary to be noted, that the credit technology in the Kazakhstan is being used only, as the transfer one, having analyzed all the Institutes of higher education, the Academies, the Colleges, the Universities and the Scientific Centers data. So, all the educational programs must be estimated in the credits: the previous ones, the additional ones, the certification ones, the retraining ones, the additional training undergoing, the advance training level and etc., on the purpose for the storage system would be functioned in our country.
The perspectives:
«The State Program of the Education Development of the KR for the 2011 – 2020 – es» has already been approved by the President’s Decree of the KR, dated from December, 07, 2010, № 1118 [3].
Among the main challenges of the higher education in «The State Program of the Education Development of the Kazakhstan Republic (KR) for the 2011 – 2020 – es» have already been singled out and emphasized the following:
– the further integration in the world – wide educational space;
– the higher education quality high level achievement, having satisfied the labor market needs, the country’s innovation – industrially challenges, the personality, and also corresponding to the best world – wide practices in the field of the education;
– the teaching and the training system functioning provision during the whole human life;
– the education, the science and the production integration provision, the necessary conditions creation for the intellectual property and the technologies products commercialization.
Then, the highly skilled and highly qualified scientific and the pedagogical – scientifically staves preparation and the further training.
The Kazakhstan joining to the Bolognese process is being directed at the above – indicated tasks and the challenges achievement, in the framework of which the united educational space is being formed, the educational systems harmonization is being carried out, having provided the students’ and the learners’ comparability, transparence in the education, and also their mobility.