"We are pleased to serve as an educational and practical bridge for local scientists in gaining international experience," said Nurgat Zakiyev, Director of the Department of Science and Innovation at AITU.

As part of the international conference "2022 IEEE International Conference on Smart Information Systems and Technologies (SIST)" at Astana IT University, the team from The Tech interviewed Nurkhat Zhakiyev, Director of the Department of Science and Innovation at AITU.

The IEEE 2022 International Conference on Smart Information Systems and Technologies is being held for the second time. Please tell us how the conference has influenced state programs and, consequently, research activities?

We are pleased to host the IEEE SIST 2022 conference at AITU for the second consecutive year. It brings together the best scientists from the international arena in smart technologies and IT systems. For us and for Kazakhstan as a whole, this is a prestigious, image-building event that is also scientifically informative, attracting interest from 113 foreign scientists. As a result, it provides a significant boost to state programs in the fields of digitalization, educational technologies, and other areas.

The program features the best developments in the application of IT technologies across various sectors, such as machine learning, text recognition, medicine, and the banking system. In turn, we selected only the strongest works. This year, 268 papers were submitted, of which only 128 were approved by us. There was a rigorous selection process to filter out weaker works, leaving only those where we could evaluate research novelty, methodologies, mathematical model structures, and conclusions presented as comparative analyses.

We are glad to serve as an educational and practical bridge for local scientists to gain international experience. At the same level, we contribute our part, and the global scientific community learns about Kazakhstan and our developments.

The AITU Coworking Space is a platform for developing student entrepreneurship. How does AITU support startups: what opportunities and conditions are provided to projects?

The coworking space of our university functions as a "nest" for future promising projects. We place 15 startups on a competitive basis, which must confirm their residency status every three months. Each startup is tasked with achieving high KPIs and demonstrating corresponding results. Otherwise, the startup loses its residency status, and the place is awarded to other teams.

For competitive startups, we create development conditions, such as incubation periods, training, and mentoring. We work on strategy development, presentation skills, monetization, building a correct understanding of the customer profile, and finding investors for each project. The best ecosystem in the country has been created for our university's startups to become leaders in the Kazakhstani and global markets.

This year, AITU plans to graduate 500 IT specialists. What advantages do university graduates have? How prepared are they for the job market?

Education at AITU is undoubtedly high-quality and oriented towards current global trends. Our upcoming graduates are proof of this. Already this year, 500 IT specialists are scheduled to graduate, who will work in leading companies in Kazakhstan and around the world.

According to our statistics, more than 50% of students are currently employed. We frequently hold job fairs where students can find suitable companies and positions that they can combine with their studies. Our students undergo a rigorous selection process, after which they complete paid internships at major companies in Kazakhstan with a guarantee of future employment. Moreover, we count their work experience as part of their practical training.

High-quality education corresponding to global IT standards, in-depth study of the English language, and the best teaching staff at Astana IT University "nurture" worthy specialists of international class. I can give an example of one of our students who works remotely in France and is in high demand. In my opinion, AITU opens many doors and opportunities for students and future applicants, and they deserve them.