The market professionals evaluated the quality of education in accordance with the business needs  

The results of the first stage of the universities rating were announced during a briefing at the CCS, in which the managing director of the NCE RK Atameken Olzhas Ordabayev, the vice minister of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan Talgat Eshenkulov and the construction expert Alibek Mardanov took part. The rating of universities is the joint work of Atameken and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan. As the vice-minister noted, the rating covered 784 programs in 33 specialties out of 2 thousand educational programs.

"In general, these are STEM specialties, economics and business, as well as social sciences. This rating is needed primarily for enrollees. It will serve as a guide for choosing a profession. It can become a tool for educational institutions, for the opportunity to make adjustments and changes in educational programs and determine in which areas work strengthening is necessary," - Talgat Eshenkulov said.

The rating of each university was conducted according to nine criteria, including the relevance of educational programs, the employment of graduates and the average salary of graduates. According to Talgat Eshenkulov, the most popular and highly paid was the "Oil and gas engineering" specialty, where wages exceed 900 thousand tenge, the lowest percentage of people are employed in the "Journalism" specialty.

"I can name the specialties with high salary level - "Oil and gas engineering". The average salary is 250 thousand tenge. "Transport equipment and technology" - the average salary is 174 thousand. "Mining" - 174 thousand tenge, "Automation and management" - 159 thousand tenge. Having these specialties a person has an opportunity to earn even more" - Talgat Eshenkulov said.

In the first stage, 114 universities of Kazakhstan took part in the program. Based on educational programs and statistical information, experts developed a rating.

"The rating itself is the tip of the iceberg. The main thing that we would like to do is to express business’ preferences. We focused on exactly how the graduate comes from his alma mater... We are absolutely sure of the information and figures that were taken from the unified system of higher education management, as well as from the SCPP base. Personal data on salary were closed for us, and the rating was based on impersonal information. It was extremely important to find out how well-prepared the students are leaving the university. And as far as educational programs correspond to the time, industry experts are involved in the work" - Olzhas Ordabayev explained.

When making the rating, the relevance of the literature used, the correlation of the study time and the subjects studied, the relevance and novelty of the subjects taught became important criteria. Secondly, the criteria for harmonizing educational programs with the association of employers, investing in educational programs, international accreditation, and the availability of practical experience among teachers were considered.

An important tool in the ranking was the questioning of specialists graduated last year. Based on the data, today a package of recommendations for educational institutions is being made.

In turn, Talgat Eshenkulov noted that the project implies longevity. So, in the future, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the National Chamber and industry experts want to see the dynamics in the issues of improving educational programs.

"After the presentation of the rating of IT-specialties, entrepreneurs began to address us with questions why universities started to listen to us; and come out with suggestions to update and develop programs jointly," - the Managing Director of the NCE added.

Alibek Mardanov is an expert in the construction industry. He evaluated higher education institutions from the perspective of the employer.

"We noticed that the Soviet school of industrial construction is predominant. Today, civil construction prevails on the market. I would like to find a reflection of this in the curricula. Our specialty is practical and requires a constant skill. Today, digital opportunities are so great that without leaving the university, you can arrange laboratory work and get new skills in virtual laboratories,"- Alibek Mardanov highlighted the general business requirements.

The Ranking of Higher education institutions is available on the site of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs "Atameken" and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan. According to the initiators, 50 more rankings will be held and released until the end of 2018.