• 17 January 2025
• 171

University accreditation as a tool for improving the quality of education

As world practice shows, one of the effective tools for improving the quality of educational services is the passage of national and international accreditation. It helps to identify strengths and weaknesses, and improve the work of universities. The university's certificate of accreditation builds trust among applicants and their parents, recognition from employers, and confirms that graduates' education meets the necessary standards. Therefore, for Korkyt Ata Kyzylorda University, the passage of accreditation is an important strategic task. 

Korkyt Ata Kyzylorda University builds its educational activities, including through the prism of standards and criteria of the Independent Agency for Accreditation and Rating (IAAR). With institutional accreditation, the university is assessed according to 12 standards, including 129 criteria. And with specialized accreditation of educational programs – according to 9 standards, including 113 criteria.

It is important to note that the accreditation process is carried out by an external expert commission. The external expert commission includes leading domestic and foreign scientists, employers, and students. During the visit to the university, experts conduct interviews with teachers, students, graduates and employers, attend classes and practice bases, get acquainted with the educational and methodological support of the educational process and carry out a visual inspection of the material and technical base. Following the results of the visit, the degree of compliance of the educational organization and educational programs with quality standards is established and recommendations for their improvement are given.

The university is actively developing a program for external academic mobility of students. So, in 2024, 108 students studied at foreign universities.

Every year, the university attracts more than 20 foreign scientists from countries such as the United States, Canada, Finland, South Korea, Switzerland, Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia, Russia, Uzbekistan, Belarus.

The number of research projects carried out by the academic teaching staff has increased (33 projects in 2024), which has increased science revenues by 4 times. There is an annual increase in the publication activity of academic teaching staff in highly rated journals.

The university's infrastructure has been actively developed. In 2024, 249,349 thousand tenge was spent on the purchase of laboratory equipment alone, which is 5.2 times more than in 2021.

In order to improve the quality of all areas of activity and successfully complete accreditation, the university has an internal quality assurance system operating on the basis of Internal Quality Assurance Standards.

Thus, international accreditation is indeed an effective tool for external assessment of the quality of education and has a positive impact on increasing the competitiveness of educational programs. In addition, it is an effective tool for public participation in the management of the educational environment of universities, as it allows expanding scientific and educational ties with other universities and specialists, and provides new opportunities to raise public awareness about high-quality educational programs.

Korkyt Ata Kyzylorda University has been participating in accreditation procedures since 2012.  In 2022, the university successfully passed the international institutional accreditation procedure through the Independent Agency for Accreditation and Rating (IAAR) for the third time.

To date, 110 educational programs have certificates of international specialized accreditation.  This is another confirmation and recognition of the quality of education provided by our university. Undoubtedly, this is the result of the hard work of the entire team of Korkyt Ata KU and the achievements of our students. In the future, all the university's activities will be aimed at improving existing educational programs, developing new ones that are relevant in modern society and their compliance with international quality standards. This will allow Korkyt Ata Kyzylorda University to be more stable and competitive in the domestic and global educational space. 

Head of the Strategic Planning and Quality Assurance Department

Zh.Tynyshtykbayeva