Просмотров: 2735

The borders were opened, it became possible to receive guests from abroad. Repeatedly, KATU teachers and the staff themselves went for an international internship. All this was carried out under the leadership of the Department of International Relations (DIR) of KATU. About what work has been done, we talked in an interview with the director of the department Saltanat Meiramova.

- Saltanat Akimovna, how many foreign partners does KATU have? How were relationships built during the pandemic?

- Currently, KATU has 152 active cooperation agreements with foreign universities and research organizations from 30 countries. In the context of countries, 37.5% of agreements are with universities and research institutes from the Russian Federation, 42% - from the European Union, 6% - from China, 5.5% - from the USA, and 9% - from other countries.

In the current 2021, 31 agreements on cooperation in the field of education and science have been concluded with universities and research organizations from 13 countries of the world. In the context of countries, 51.6% of agreements were concluded with universities and research institutes from the Russian Federation, 6.5% - Ukraine, 6.5% - China, 6.5% - Turkey, 3.3% - Uzbekistan, 25.6% - from other countries.

Moreover, our partners are more than 45 international foundations and organizations for the implementation of international relations, as well as 18 Embassies of such countries as Germany, the USA, Canada, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Italy, the Czech Republic, China, France, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Turkey, Poland, Malaysia, Mongolia, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Republic of Belarus, Israel and the Russian Federation.

- In the current academic year, many foreign guests have visited KATU, haven't they?

- Indeed, despite the pandemic, 2021, especially the last decade, has been very eventful. Our university is increasingly attracting the interest of our foreign and domestic partners in cooperation in the field of science and education. As a result, a number of important meetings took place during the year.

For example, June 22, 2021 an official ceremony of signing a memorandum of understanding between KATU and the Holon Technological University (Israel) was held in the presence of the Ambassador of Israel to Kazakhstan, Ms. Liat Vekselman and the Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Israel Mr. Satybaldy Burshakov, together with the Chairman of the Board Kairat Aituganov and administration of KATU.

On July 21, 2021, a meeting with the Ukrainian delegation on potential cooperation between Ukraine and Kazakhstan in the field of growing winter wheat was held at the S. Seifullin Kazakh Agrotechnical University. At the meeting, issues of expanding cooperation in growing and organizing tests of Ukrainian varieties of winter wheat in the conditions of Kazakhstan were considered. The experience of Ukrainian colleagues in the field of seed production, breeding, reproduction and commercialization of new varieties of winter wheat was presented.

November 21, 2021 S. Seifullin Kazakh Agrotechnical University met Mustafa Kemal, Professor of Artvin University from Turkey, to discuss organizational issues for the creation of a dendrology laboratory at KATU together with the Faculty of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment as a return visit of the KATU delegation, which had previously visited Artvin University, headed by Deputy Chairman of the Board E .N. Nysanbaev on the exchange of experience and prolongation of the agreement between universities in the field of education and science at the invitation of the Turkish side.

On November 22, 2021, a meeting was held between the Deputy Chairman of the Board E.N. Nysanbaev with representatives of the PROANIWAL campaign led by Mr. Leroy Pascal. Professor, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Liege (Hulg, Belgium) Lera Pascal showed great interest in cooperation with the faculty of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Technology. The guest presented his university and the campaign, spoke about their activities and suggested the main areas of cooperation, in particular, an agreement was reached to conduct research work on cattle breeding.

Due to the fruitful work with the embassies of foreign countries in Kazakhstan, in particular with the Embassy of Italy in the Republic of Kazakhstan, they proposed to hold the VI Week of Italian cuisine on the basis of KATU as a result of the active work of the DIR with the embassy and universities of Italy, in particular with the University of Milan in the direction of double-degree education in IT technologies (13 graduates for the period from 2018 to 2020) and credit mobility in biotechnology (2021).

The VI Italian Cuisine Week, where I acted as a moderator, was held at a high level in the presence and active participation of the Italian Ambassador to Kazakhstan, Mr. Marco Alberti, an international expert in the food ecosystem sector, the founder and president of The Future Food Institute (Italy) Mrs. Sarah Roversi, as well as the representative of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Kazakhstan Kairat Nazhmidenov and  the Deputy Chairman of the Board of KATU E.N. Nysanbaev.

At the end of the meeting, Deputy Chairman of the Board E.N. Nysanbaev and Mrs. Sary Roversi, President of the Institute of Food of the Future, in a solemn ceremony signed a Memorandum of Understanding between S. Seifullin KATU and The Future Food Institute (Italy). This ceremony was held offline and online with the participation of more than 170 participants, spectators, teaching staff and students of KATU. The result of this work was 2 grants for KATU students from the Future Food Institute (Italy) for studying for one academic semester in 2022 within the framework of external academic mobility.

In the period from November 27 to December 12, a group of foreign professors from the French Republic visited the university in order to conduct lecture and practical seminars for teaching staff of KATU to improve the methodology for teaching fundamental disciplines to KATU students in accordance with European standards as part of the work of the KATU Roadmap for 2020-2024 and implementation of a joint pilot program for five years between KATU and AgroParisTech and Agreenium universities (France) to train specialists in the French model of education and issuance of double diplomas in 2024.

- Tell us a little about the academic mobility of KATU students?

- Since 2013, KATU has been successfully implementing external academic mobility programs for its students. Thus, KATU students have been studied at partner universities in the USA, Germany, France, Finland, Spain, Italy, Poland, Turkey, Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus.

Payment for tuition for outgoing external academic mobility programs was carried out from various sources, including the budgetary funds of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, own funds of KATU, own funds of students and grants from national and international programs.

Particularly, since 2016, 373 students of KATU were trained in one academic semester in the above countries at the leading foreign partner universities. 

- Saltanat Akimovna, behind this large-scale work is your team, your department. How many people work in the department, what are their functions?

- The main directions of the Department of International Relations (DIR) are:

* Interaction with foreign organizations, embassies, universities and research centers on the establishment and expansion of international relations.

* Implementation and support of the program «Visiting scholars»- the invitation of foreign scientists to conduct lectures and practical classes for students.

* Implementation and support of the academic mobility program for students, faculty and staff of KATU.

* Organization and support of the program of long-term internships for the faculty and staff of KATU on the basis of foreign partner universities and research centers of the world through participation in scientific projects and international programs.

Thanks to the fruitful and purposeful work of the DIR with partner universities, in the upcoming 2022, 9 KATU teachers will undergo an internship at Michigan State University and Florida University in the USA, as well as in centers and universities in Japan, Austria, Great Britain, Israel and Hungary. Financing of the program of long-term internships is in the category «500 scientists»and will be carried out by JSC «Center for International Programs»(Bolashak scholarship).

* Coordination of work on filing applications and implementation of educational and scientific projects together with leading foreign universities and scientific centers of the world.

To date, KATU has implemented 4 UNICEN projects in the areas of GIS technology, biomass, crop production, business and entrepreneurship, funded by the American Council for International Education and Science. In addition, 3 joint scientific projects funded by the Government of the PRC and 4 EU projects under the Erasmus + program.

These projects are the unconditional trust of foreign partners to our university and, as a result, additional investments in the development of education and science at KATU.

* Work with foreign students, since the attraction of foreign students is one of the important indicators of the internationalization of KATU in the international educational space.

Today, 141 foreign students from 14 countries of the world study at the university: Germany, China, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Turkey, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

* Organization of theoretical and practical training of students abroad.

Our students and undergraduates have a unique opportunity to do agricultural practice in the leading farms in Germany. Only in 2021, 6 students and 2 undergraduates of the university completed their work experience under the programs of the University of Applied Sciences Weihenstephan-Triesdorf and the LOGO Farmers Union.

Since 2017 the Angers (France) program for agricultural practice and training of students and undergraduates is being implemented, and a long-term internship program for undergraduates in animal husbandry and veterinary medicine is also being piloted in livestock companies and farms in Denmark since 2021.

* Conclusion of agreements and memorandums of cooperation with foreign universities and organizations. Information on which, I mentioned above.

* Organization of English language courses with a native speaker for the teaching staff in order to improve their language and professional competence.

In 2021 alone, as part of KATU’s cooperation with the university’s partner, Imperial English UK, a recognized British brand for learning and teaching level English according to the new system, we have trained 71 university teachers. At the same time, 65 students passed the TOEFL ITP exam, 9 of which scored a threshold score for admission to doctoral studies in 2021.

Moreover, this year, our department, together with Imperial English UK, organized a refresher course «Modern Methods and Technologies of Education». The duration of the course was 75 academic hours - online classes. The target audience of the course was the faculty of KATU, teaching their special disciplines in English in groups of multilingual education of three levels of education and teachers of the department of foreign languages ​​- 120 people and 9 teachers from other leading domestic universities of the Republic of Kazakhstan. At the end of the course, students received a certificate of professional development in a total of 75 hours.

* Organization of preparatory courses of Kazakh and Russian languages ​​for foreign citizens.

In the upcoming 2022, the Department of International Relations organized the arrival of 7 students from the Federative Republic of Nigeria and the Republic of Chile under the program of preparatory Russian language courses with the prospect of further admission of foreign students under the bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs of KATU.

A bit of history: in connection with the challenges of globalization and internationalization of higher education in November 2012, the once small Department of International Cooperation (DIC) of S. Seifullin Kazakh Agrotechnical University was expanded to the status of the Center for the Development of International Cooperation and Multilingual Education.

In 2020 as a result of obtaining the status of a research university of an agrotechnical profile and modernizing the management of the university management, in 2021 a new structure of KATU was adopted and the Center for the Development of International Cooperation and Multilingual Education was renamed the Department of International Relations (DIR). At the moment, 1 chief manager for international cooperation, 1 chief manager for projects and international programs and 1 manager for international cooperation work at DIR.

In addition, the Kazakh-Chinese Center for Science and Education (KCCSEO) operates under the DIR, where 2 managers work.

The main goal of KCCSEO is the exchange of students, undergraduates and teachers within the framework of academic mobility with the best universities of China, strengthening cooperation in the field of science and education between the two countries, attracting investments and international projects to KATU.

Every year, the Chinese Embassy in the Republic of Kazakhstan allocates a certain number of grants for studying at the Chinese Xinjiang Agricultural University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Northwestern University of Agriculture and Forestry, the Henan Agricultural University and the Harbin Veterinary Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Currently, more than 30 students’ study at the above universities, 3 of which in 2020 and 2021 successfully defended and received a PhD degree in ecology and agricultural engineering, and 1 of them continues their studies as a post-doctoral student in China.

In September 2013, the Minister of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China, Mr. Wang Gang, visited KCC&O within the framework of his official visit, and gave a positive assessment of cooperation in the field of science between the two countries.

In November 2015, the President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Academician Bai Chunli visited KATU as part of an official visit.

These important visits resulted in the following activities:

- «Kazakh-Chinese center of agricultural mechanization» was created at the technical faculty.

- a joint Kazakh-Chinese laboratory for biological safety) was established in 2016 within the framework of the implementation of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Government of the People's Republic of China on scientific and technical cooperation and the Memorandum of Understanding between the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Xinjiang Agrarian University and NC JSC “S. Seifullin Kazakh Agrotechnical University”. The work of the laboratory is organized on the basis of the BSL-2 safety standard. The laboratory is equipped with a supply and exhaust system and a walk-through autoclave, which ensure complete environmental safety from the spread of potentially dangerous biological agents. Also, the laboratory is equipped with the necessary equipment for serological and molecular genetic diagnosis of animal diseases.

- an international conference «Organic agriculture in the Republic of Kazakhstan» was held, where CQC scientists delivered lectures to university specialists on the topic «Standardization and evaluation of organic products»;

- the project «Green Belt of Astana» is being implemented with the Chinese Academy of Science, the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the PRC together with the Department of Forestry of KATU;

- a project on infectious animal diseases is being implemented with the Harbin Veterinary Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences with the Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Technology.

It is gratifying to note that now the laboratory has passed the accreditation procedure for compliance with the requirements of GOST ISO / IEC 17025-2019 «General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories» and on March 17, 2021, the General Director of the “National Accreditation Center” LLP signed the Order on accreditation of the Testing Laboratory «Joint Kazakh-Chinese Laboratory for Biological Safety» NC JSC «S. Seifullin Kazakh Agrotechnical University» of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan, link: http://www.nca.kz/info/sales/prikaz-321-od-ot- 18-03-2021-g-ob-akkreditatsii-i-pereoformlenii-attestatov-akkreditatsii/

- Saltanat Akimovna, tell us about yourself. Where did you study English? How often do you have to act as a simultaneous interpreter?

- I graduated from S. Seifullin Tselinograd State Pedagogical Institute) (now ENU named after L.N. Gumilyov) in 1986, Faculty of Foreign Languages, teacher of French and English by qualification. According to diploma English is my second language, and I constantly improved my skills and knowledge of the English language, and in the end of tireless work on myself gave its results.

I defended the degree of candidate of pedagogical sciences at the doctoral dissertation of the Kazakh Ablai khan University of International Relations and World Languages (Almaty) in April 2006 with the award of a diploma of a candidate of pedagogical sciences in the specialty 13.00.02 - Theory and methods of teaching and education (Romano-Germanic and Turkic languages in the system of primary, secondary and higher education) and two years later in 2008 I was awarded the academic title of associate professor of pedagogy issued by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

In order to improve my professional qualifications, I actively participated in international programs and won several grants from the US Embassy in the field of English linguistics in 2009. University of Oregon; in 2010 JFDP, Oklahoma State University; in 2013 ELT Educational Leadership Institute.

In 2011-2012 I became a scholarship holder of the international Bolashak program in the field of theory and methodology of vocational education at the University of Glasgow, UK, Scotland.

In order to improve the language and methodological competence in the field of teaching English in the framework of fruitful cooperation and partnership with Missouri State University (USA), I won a grant for training under the CELTA (Cambridge Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) program in 2016.

In 2017 became I was the owner of a grant from the Newton-Al-Farabi Partnership Program within the framework of the British Council's Research Relations program.

In the same year, I won a grant from the international MASHAV program on the topic “New Pedagogy of the 21st century» for teachers of higher educational institutions in Jerusalem (Israel).

In 2020, I won the IVLP-on-demand «Volunteer Visitors» program called «Developing Partnerships: Management in Higher Education», organized annually by the US Department of State. Naturally, all these international programs of various levels and formats together contributed to the improvement of the language and professional competence as a foreign language assistant professor-methodologist and international specialist, and still help me to act as a simultaneous interpreter during official meetings with foreign delegations, representatives of Embassies and foreign scientists during conducting master classes and trainings at KATU.

- Thank you for the interview. Happy New Year! Wish you success and prosperity!