rating 2006

Kazakh HEI ranking 2006

 

The President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nazarbayev in his lecture “Towards knowledge economy through innovation and education”, delivered in 10th anniversary of Eurasian National University after L. Gumilev, defined priorities in the sphere of education development having focused on the issue of education quality. The President pointed out importance of Kazakh HEI ranking for the enhancement of their competitiveness, and emphasized that “the criteria of ranking with the consideration of leading world practice is being developed thoroughly in Kazakhstan”.
HEI ranking in Kazakhstan carried out by the methodology developed by National Accreditation Centre, taking into account the latest achievements in the field of quality assessment in higher education and ranking conduct in such countries as USA, UK, Germany, Poland, Russia, Japan and others.
On 5 May 2006 National Accreditation Centre directed to the rectors of HEI in the republic a letter about conducting of the rating with the suggestion of participating in it.
Out of 160 civil HEI of Kazakhstan 112 institutions of education took part in the rating.
The quality indices of HEI activity were composed from three independent categories: students’ results, academic achievements and academic resources of a HEI. In view of mentioned categories, National Accreditation Centre developed three kinds of questionnaire: # 1 – presentation of informational and statistical data by each HEI, #2 – questioning students and academic staff by 9 indices, and #3 – assessment of training level of graduates by employers, public, and central executive organs.
While giving response to questionnaire #1 a HEI should have presented objective data by 43 positions. Among them quality composition of students contingent (80 points); quality composition of academic staff (95 points); research (95 points); financing and web-site (110 points; attractiveness and results of study process (95 points); social and cultural base and the system of quality management (85 points). Maximum sum of points that a HEI could obtain was equal to 500 points. Allocation of points on each index was accomplished during the meeting of the Commission of experts with the participation of the representatives of the Department on Higher and Postgraduate Education of the Ministry of Education and Science, the Committee on control and attestation in the sphere of education and science, and the ones from all the HEI of Astana on 1 June 2006.
Reliability of data presented in questionnaire #1 was checked by the NAC experts during their visits in place. NAC experts visited all the regions of Kazakhstan: Almaty, Karaganda, Balkhash, Aktobe, Aktau, Atyrau, Oral, Kokshetau, Petropavl, Semipalatinsk, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Pavlodar, Yekibastuz, Taraz, Taldykorgan, Shymkent, Turkestan and Zhetysay.
National Accreditation Centre has also worked out forms of questionnaires # 1, 2 and 3 which were ordered and printed out in typography “Kazspecblank”.
About 7000 students and professors gave responses to questionnaire #2. The participants should have given their opinions about attractiveness of the HEI where they study or work, and the results of learning - teaching in it. Among the asked questions there were such ones: “What is the level of laboratory equipment?”, “What is the supply with academic literature?”, “What is the supply of teaching-learning process with computers and Internet access?” and other.
Answers to these questions demonstrated importance of such indices of technical maintenance as availability specialized laboratories, sufficient number of literature and reading halls, computers and Internet access. This questionnaire included 9 questions the answer to each of them assessed in the range from 0 to 10 points. Consequently maximum number of points that was supposed to get was equal to 90 points. Sum number of points compiled 180.
On 16 June 2006 the letter signed by the Vice-minister of education and science Uteulina Kh. M. was directed to all the Ministries of the Republic of Kazakhstan which emphasized the significance of HEI ranking as an important instrument of quality improvement in higher education, and suggested filling in questionnaire # 3 with the purpose of accounting the opinions of the representatives of Ministries for Kazakh HEI rating.
As a result more than 3000 responses were receives from the representatives of central executives bodies, specifically Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Health Care, Ministry of Interior Affairs, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Transport and Communication, Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Law, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Emergency Management, akimats, educationists (rectors and deputy rectors, experts), chief executive officers of big, medium and small enterprises from all regions. They were offered to express their views on the level of training of HEI graduates. Maximum number of points on this questionnaire was equal to 270. They were awarded to a HEI in each ranking category which obtained maximum quantity of points, and the rest HEI received their points according to the coefficient the meaning of which was defined by the ratio between the index meaning for the certain HEI and maximum meaning of the index. For instance, if a HEI A received maximum sum of points equal to 4500, then it is awarded 270 points. If another HEI B obtained on the same index 2700 points, it gets (2700/4500)*270=162 points.
The results of three questionnaires were summed up and ranking positions were defined for each group of HEI. It should be pointed out that if the results of three questionnaire processing were in the range of 3%, the HEI was given one position.
The methodology of ranking was approved by the Ministry of Education and Science and HEI themselves.
Significant assistance was given by the Alliance of Students of Kazakhstan during rating conduct; they did an independent questioning of students in a very short time.
Ranking results are published in the web-site of the National Accreditation Centre (www.nac.edu.kz) and in a republican press (the Express K, the Liter, the Independent Kazakhstan); and they produced lively feedback from the public.

Директор НАЦ МОН РК - профессор Каланова Ш.М.