Interview with the Vice Rector of Astana IT University

It is very simple: we work directly with the market and involve real companies in the educational process. For example, we develop programs jointly with Cisco Academy. Huawei, Kaspersky, and Oracle are global IT leaders. To train real specialists who will be in demand, rather than specialists who will need to be retrained, we prepare them in accordance with market needs. Moreover, as part of their training, students undergo certification and graduate from the university with a set of certificates. Other universities do this as well, but the direct implementation of Cisco and Oracle academies allows us to track necessary development trends in telecommunications, programming, design, and software development. The company Korkeom Telecom (Sergek) also cooperates with us and constantly reviews our curricula. The most important thing in this process, in my opinion, is to avoid the situation where a specialist enters the market only to find that they need to be retrained. This often happens in the IT sector. Specialists from companies such as Korkeom Telecom, EPAM, KPMG (in economic fields), and Cisco (in IT) conduct various events and practical sessions with us. In addition to classroom lectures, they hold joint hackathons where they provide real-world tasks and execute these projects together with students as mentors. Our students are already employed upon graduation. All universities can operate under such a model.

They will graduate slightly more than 500 specialists. Project implementation services are not tied to a specific location. Thanks to this, even if we say that the Kazakh market is saturated—and it is not saturated with these specialists—there is an opportunity to enter the outsourcing market for other countries. Currently, approximately 60% of Ukrainian companies work in outsourcing, while 40% work in the domestic market. At the same time, sometimes projects on the domestic market are residents, meaning they are not Ukrainian products but companies like Cisco, and so on. Today, the telecommunications market is not saturated. Companies like Cisco and Huawei say they need specialists; there is a shortage. Although there are specialists, there are very few qualified ones ready to work according to the model we are implementing today. Moreover, technicians are snapped up like hotcakes. The trend is that programming is more popular, but in reality, there will be a global shortage of specialists in telecommunications, smart technologies, and the Internet of Things for the next 15 years. Even if there is a boom in these areas now, there will definitely be a shortage for at least ten years. The market is oversaturated with programmers within Ukraine and Kazakhstan, but globally it is not.

Yes, our university is indeed very lucky because we are located in such a developed infrastructure. The AIFC allows our startups and developing companies, as well as innovative projects, to create the necessary conditions. One can start and grow significantly without economic burdens related to taxation. AstanaHub is our partner in educational programs and practical sessions. Together with the university, they hold events during which students launch startups. This is an infrastructure where there is an educational process and a place to apply real projects in the form of startups, scientific research, and innovations. Within AstanaHub, they develop, then undergo incubation, and then launch together. Since AstanaHub is a resident of the AIFC, it is also exempt from taxes. This zone allows for the creation of an infrastructure in which innovations will develop. Young people do not need to leave anywhere; all conditions are created for innovations to develop. The country benefits, projects remain here, and youth do not emigrate. Many think that it is better abroad, but in reality, one can earn well here. The IT sector is a field where one can implement very cool projects via outsourcing while being in Kazakhstan and receiving money from American, Asian, and European investors.

They are very high. This is a trigger not so much for our five universities as for all of Kazakhstan. Interdisciplinarity, for example, IT in medicine, agriculture, and the agrarian sector, is already a given. Therefore, signing an agreement on cooperation among multidisciplinary universities is a trigger for Kazakhstan to unite and create collaborations not just in words, but in real conditions. We are showing that without unity, there will be no progress. For example, chemists collaborating with materials scientists obtain new materials. Biologists working with IT specialists obtain biomaniulators and other things. It might seem that fields such as automation and control, energy, and economics are incompatible, but in reality, the development of the IT industry will not have a good effect without them. It is necessary to train excellent specialists together and standardize programs jointly. This will increase the country's scientific potential.

There will definitely not be two degrees within Kazakh universities, but the opportunity for mobility, i.e., credit transfer, is certain. For example, we have a laboratory base where students can undergo training, and this will be credited to them after they return to their home university. Such mobility will allow for the optimization of university resources and, consequently, allow students to study on more advanced equipment. Milling machines, 3D printers, and manipulators, which cost a lot of money, should not be bought by all universities at once. It is necessary to distribute them, and then, first, students will get acquainted with the culture of another university; second, universities will optimize their educational base; and third, students will attend lectures by foreign professors from leading universities while being at another university. Such communication will allow not only to minimize costs but also to maximize the social component. The Bologna Process is in effect in Kazakhstan, but few universities have implemented it well in practice.

They will look exactly the same as before the pandemic. Mandatory courses will be conducted both remotely and in a combined mode, depending on the situation. In essence, there are no differences. The competencies that students must master should not differ in any way, before or after the pandemic. The form of acquiring this knowledge will be different.

We are not saying that only these four universities and no one else will be taken into our sandbox. I repeat again that there are many associations, but the effectiveness of these organizations varies. Many of them are aimed at obtaining certain benefits, often financial. Therefore, their effectiveness is zero. They simply, figuratively speaking, provide some document stating that some event took place. The inclusion of some large universities, such as Nazarbayev University, would only strengthen our collaboration. Why did we start with these five? You could say we are under one umbrella of the public foundation of education of Nursultan Nazarbayev; they are investors in these projects, so we started with them. This does not mean that no one else will be allowed in. On the contrary, we are interested in uniting with many leading universities and creating collaborations at the national level, not within a single city. There are very good universities in Atyrau, Karaganda, and Pavlodar. We want to maximize the accumulation of communications because many universities live within themselves. They meet only at some conferences, and now there are not even those. Therefore, the collaboration of communities like the one we are creating with five universities is a bonus. We all fall under one umbrella—the Ministry of Education—but nevertheless, everyone considers themselves competitors. Here, it is necessary to occupy a niche to complement each other rather than compete. Such collaboration will allow all the puzzle pieces to fall into place and create a common picture of education in Kazakhstan. Naturally, the student stands at the center of all this, so that they have all the opportunities.

Everything related to remote work. Services such as Zoom, Teams, and things like remote access and virtualization. It is no longer necessary to be in a company's office, especially in the IT sector. The only place where human presence is required is direct contact with equipment. Today, at the conference, we are talking about a digital university. We are moving many things to the cloud and the Internet, but going completely remote is incorrect. Students need to feel like students. When we read one semester offline, they communicated and stopped feeling like schoolchildren. But outside the educational process, many professional specialties can be easily transferred to remote mode if specialized equipment is not required. Today, it is really possible to conduct a conference of this level (such as IEEE) without problems. Although a year ago, the IEEE association, which includes more than 100 countries, banned online mode. Thanks to, or perhaps in spite of, the pandemic, we have achieved a new milestone in the development of remote technologies and communications. Without these technologies, there will be no development, unfortunately. People are social beings; they need face-to-face communication, but if this is impossible, remote technologies help.

You know, in Ukraine, many projects are declared, but there is no resource like eGov. As a foreigner, I felt this, while many Kazakhstani perceive many things as a given. In Ukraine, these processes are just starting; they are not yet mass. There are services like those provided by eGov, and services like those provided by Kaspi and HalykBank. Internet banking is well developed in Ukraine, but paying for taxis, various services, or obtaining any kind of certificate in Ukraine is much more difficult. In Kazakhstan, these innovations, which were implemented in a short time, really work. I always give examples to Ukrainian guys who organize the digitalization of the city. As declared in Ukraine, it is possible to obtain all documents within a single window without leaving home. But here it is possible, whereas in Ukraine it is not.

I am from Ukraine myself; I was invited to universities to engage in scientific and innovative fields. I believe that to achieve such scales, it is necessary to create good infrastructure zones. The difficulty in this process is ensuring that the youth we educate do not leave. One of the missions of our university is to show that one can earn well in Kazakhstan through outsourcing. Our university trains various IT specialists, but they are all taught programming, which is mainly outsourcing work. Today, by supporting and scaling companies like EPAM in Kazakhstan, we can realize great potential. Our boys, who are in their first year of study, are already ready to solve various tasks. Students implement tasks of the university IT Challenge within practical and laboratory work. Such teamwork will create an infrastructure and microclimate that contributes to exports. The AIFC allows students to create a startup, essentially investing nothing, and to create such companies under preferential conditions. The forecast of the Astana International Financial Centre for the growth of specialists, even during the pandemic, is very high. Collaboration between universities, business, and the state will help implement innovative projects.