Kazakhstan’s educational institutions to introduce updated educational standards by mid-2020
As part of the mission of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development Nur-Sultan hosted a series of multilateral meetings of World Bank’s experts and representatives of the Kazakhstan Ministry of Labor and Social Protection. The foreign guests praised the completion of the development and updating of 550 professional standards, on the basis of which educational programs in Kazakhstan will be updated, the Ministry’s press service reports.
As it is known, since 2016 the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population, with financial and technical support from the World Bank, has been implementing the “Development of labor skills and job stimulation” project aimed at improving employment and increasing the effectiveness of training. The project is gradually entering the final stage. IBRD educational practice manager Harry Patrinos and IBRD leading specialist in education Alexandria Valerio arrived in the capital of Kazakhstan in order to assess the status of implementation and achievement of the set indicators.
“One of the objectives of the project is to create the basis for the development of the National Qualifications System, which will streamline and balance the labor market, ensuring the availability and application of unified professional, educational and qualification standards brought into line with the market requirements. For this purpose, within the framework of the project, 550 professional standards have been developed for 12 popular sectors of the economy, 70 of which have already been approved, and another 480 are planned to be approved before the end of this year. We are pleased to state that this work was carried out on time and at a good quality level”, Harry Patrinos said.
The mission participants discussed with the representatives of the Ministry the upcoming updating of educational programs, which will be brought into line with the approved professional standards, and therefore with the requirements of the labor market.
As part of the visit to Nur-Sultan, the World Bank experts also familiarized with the work of employment centers, studied the training programs for their employees and the proposed advanced training courses for applicants. Within the framework of the project, the material and technical equipment of the employment centers had been already improved, in particular, they were provided with modern IT equipment, and in 2020, further modernization is planned.
The measures proposed to the Ministry for the development of the National Qualifications System will contribute to the development of the most effective educational programs. The mechanism of cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science is already being worked out. It is expected that by mid-2020 Kazakhstan educational institutions will introduce updated educational standards that will allow new personnel to be introduced to the labor market that meet the requirements of employers.
According to the results of the mission, the representatives of the World Bank noted the achievement of the set intermediate indicators of the effectiveness of the project and expressed hope for further maintaining a productive pace of work.