Without knowledge of history there can not be Kazakhstani patriotism, and patriotism is unthinkable without consolidation and unity of the whole nation to solve crucial problems - Erlan Sydykov, the Gumilyov Eurasian National Universirty.
- What , in your opinion, is the correct, efficient and "point" steps needed to be done first in training of senior professionals to reduce the "transition " time?
- The main purpose of the system of higher education is promotion to the world level. In line with the global development goals of our system of Kazakhstan higher education are aimed at creating a world-class university, providing the output of specialists with the world level training.
The main directions of our activity is implementation of Development Strategy of the Eurasian National University 2020. And here is the main problem: the continued implementation of the strategic directions provided, improving the competitiveness of our graduates by studying the needs of employers, the use of innovative teaching methods, development of the concept of the research activities of students of the hiher education establishment, stepping up the creation of branches of departments in enterprises, improving the electronic component library resources, activation of scientific schools to commercialize the results of their activities.
The university has worked out the mechanism of the widespread introduction of corporate management systems by type of Nazarbayev University, transition to the provision of university autonomy in stages is being elaborated - from 2014: since 2012 we have an operating supervisory board with large statutory power.
Research activities of the University aims to develop basic science and applied research in priority areas. A special place in the scientific-research work of the university is the Laboratory of engineering specialization (hereinafter - LES) and the Innovation Park. LES is the only institution that has the basic funding from the Education Ministry.
LES is based on writing theses, master's theses and research projects.
One of the most important indicators of the university is to publish in scientific literature, especially publications in top-rated journals included in the database of Thomson Reuters and Scopus.
According to this criterion the recent years have also seen a positive trend.
Another important factor of integration into the global educational system and the execution of the order of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nazarbayev concerning development of the trinity of languages is preparation of multilingual staff.
The structure of educational programs at these offices is built in such a way that the humanities - history, literature, and others are taught in the state language. Natural sciences - chemistry, mathematics, physics, biology will be taught in English. Subsequently, the number of such workplaces of their contingent will increase.
No less significant component of integration into the global educational environment we believe is development of academic mobility.
In two years, more than 30 master graduates and doctoral graduates had the opportunity to study in the best foreign universities double-degree education program.
In Kazakhstan, the project of "academic mobility " is quite unique, as in most countries this system is carried out by the students themselves. We have this project funded by the state.
Behind success is titanic work of the teaching staff.
- You are a historian, and you clearly understand the challenge that faces the teacher in the training of such a cohort, especially in a still "lean" documentary material. The opening in the university of a history department imposes special responsibility on the teaching staff. Is the institution ready for this mission?
- The Eurasina University is one of the first to open a purely historical faculty after an extended meeting of the Interagency Working Group on national history, chaired by Secretary of State Kanat M.Tazhin. Its presentation will be held on October 10 this year.
In another way, it could not be the other way; our university is named after Eurasian historian Lev Gumilyov. Of course, this is a great responsibility for all of our staff. I think that we can handle this task. Now there is an issue of training qualified personnel in this area. We need to review the allocation of grants for undergraduate, master's and doctoral studies.
On the basis of the goals it must be said about the preparation of such an important document as the "concept of historical science of Kazakhstan." Work on the concept is going on. And the specialists of the Institute of History and Ethnology, Institute of Archaeology, Institute of Oriental Studies and the Eurasian National University are taking part in it. Based on the fact that it is a great and meticulous work , it was proposed for the fall of 2013 the Second Congress (forum) historians of Kazakhstan with the participation of all academic research institutions of historical and humanities, universities and leading national and international scientists, experts in the history of Kazakhstan and Central Asia. At the Congress there will be held a detailed discussion of this document.
It should be emphasized that in the current research practice, we also urgently need research papers that have an interdisciplinary character. For example, at the junction of population genetics, traditional shezhire, ethnography, historical geography, etc. The relevance of this type of study, special attention was paid to the extended session on the study of national history, held June 5, 2013.