Training for Leaders of A New Generation of Universities in Kazakhstan

On May 22-24, 2023, a training seminar was held at the Kazakh-American Free University. The seminar was run with the project “Training for Leaders of A New Generation of Universities in Kazakhstan”. The project was developed and implemented by the Public Association IHEEP, Kazakh-American Free University, and Michigan State University (USA) with the support of the US Embassy in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The target audience of the project is senior managers of universities in Kazakhstan, and its goal is the exchange of experience and knowledge and the development of management skills in a higher educational institution in modern conditions. Before arriving in Ust-Kamenogorsk, the training participants went through a series of webinars on leadership in higher education, autonomy and academic freedom of universities, and quality and communication issues.

25 rectors and vice-rectors of universities in Almaty, Astana, Semey, Taraz, Pavlodar, Shymkent, and Ust-Kamenogorsk took part in the training seminar at KAFU. The coordinator of programs and projects of the US Embassy Aidana Talgat also attended the training. The seminar program included a discussion of the models of functioning of universities and their management, algorithms, and methods for making managerial decisions, leadership styles, and methods of team formation. The seminar was a great success, also due to the participation of foreign experts in the field of higher education, partners of KAFU – Professor Stephen Heyneman (Vanderbilt University, USA), Professor Brendan Cantwell, Professor Douglas Hartman (Michigan State University, USA). The speakers were also the acting Rector of Astana IT University Omirbaev S.M. and KAFU Vice-Rector for International Programs and Relations D. Ballast (USA). The project organizers are working on developing a continuation of the training.

Center for Public Relations