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Tag: Kazakhstan

Green campus concept relaunched at KazNARU

Posted on by Rafis Abazov

A team of young scholars, teachers, and students at KazNARU presented the preliminary concept of the green campus project as a part of a series of lectures and public presentations about youth initiatives and innovations on sustainable development goals (SDGs).

The brainstorming and discussions started in early 2022 and included the development and integration of new ideas, the startup pitches, and the innovations into the concept of the green campus. Young scholars and students have analyzed not only the theoretical aspects of ‘greening’ partnership and action plans but also the practical aspects of integrating the results of innovative students’ research studies and startups into the implementation process of sustainable development goals.

This project envisions the relaunch of the idea of a green campus that unfortunately received less attention and effort during the COVID-19 pandemic and related to the closures of universities around the world. Indeed, the concept of the green campus has a long history and has been implemented over more than three decades mainly in developed countries in the west.

In 2015, this concept receive a significant additional push with the introduction of sustainable development goals as a UN agenda until 2030. With the introduction of SDGs, many universities especially student organizations not only in developed countries but also in the developing world started rethinking the ways how they can implement more effectively the concept of greening their campuses. This is especially essential for achieving the implementation of sustainable development goals, increasing the contribution to the reduction of pollution, energy consumption, and mitigating the negative aspects of climate change.

The Rector of KazNARU Tlektes I. Yespolov highlighted that the universities in the region have been already for many years working on implementing the concept of green campus in many localities with the aim to make the campuses more user-friendly for students and educators by using new technologies and new innovative approaches. In this context, KazNARU has a unique advantage, which is related to the fact that this university intensively works on experimenting with various vegetations and selecting plants, bushes, and trees for urban habitat. Students and faculty focus on identifying plants that are more effective in absorbing heat, and air pollution, sustainable in surviving in the modern urban environment, and improving their steadiness through the selection process.

Indeed, some principles of the concept of the green campus are very simple and include familiar elements and steps. At the same time technical development, innovations, and creative thinking allow for integrating the latest technologies and ICT achievements into improving life on the campuses and making them greener and more sustainable.

The creativity initiatives of students allow finding new approaches and ideas to solving old problems. For example, during the 2021–2022 academic year, the students of KazNARU developed more than 15 small and not-so-small startups and innovations.

For example, they initiated planting and replanting flowers, bushes, and trees inside and outside their campuses. They also promoted switching from plastic to reusable bottles and created dynamic video presentations about their visions of green campuses for national and international competitions and events, such as the international “Creative spark – big idea challenge”. There is also a plan to integrate ideas of teaching about sustainable development into KazNARU’s MBA/EMBA programs.

Professor Rafis Abazov, Director of the Institute for green and sustainable development at KazNARU highlighted that the future of a green economy and green development starts not only with large plans and agendas but also with the implementation of concrete sustainable development goals in the concrete localities. For example, many small but concrete green campus actions at universities and innovative green projects developed by young people and students will take us hundreds of small steps forward in saving our planet. He quoted great traveler and naturalist Roberts Swan “The greatest threat to our plant is the belief that someone else will save it for us!”

The photo is courtesy of Rafis Abazov, Institute for green and sustainable development, KazNARU

Yessenov University’s English Philology Department partners with US Embassy

Posted on by maral.zhakypbekova

As a part of continuous professional development, English language teachers of the Department of English Philology, Yessenov University have taken three stages of the advanced training course “Pedagogical University Development Project” from the US Embassy in Kazakhstan and RELO Office.

Phase I was about digital tools used in FLT Classroom. English teachers had great opportunity to learn about useful tools to use in their online classes which was actual previous years.

Phase II was the Curriculum Development stage. Participants have chosen two courses to create a curriculum: English Language A2 and Methodology of FLT. During this course, teachers developed a full curriculum for these two courses.

Phase III was Curriculum Revision Stage and additional teacher workshops with different topics related to FLT. This stage of the course lasts two months, which allows teachers not only to obtain the necessary information, but also to delve into the practical application of the acquired skills.

The course sessions are interactive and include relevant topics that will allow teachers to improve the learning process, introduce modern language teaching technologies, integrate them with related disciplines, as well as improve the use of digital technologies aimed at in-depth study of the English language by students (future teachers and translators).

Activities of the innovative educational and methodological center “service to society”

Posted on by Aigerim

Our university has started its activity since the 2018 academic year at the Department of “Assembly of people of Kazakhstan” and is currently conducting large – scale work in the region-an innovative educational and methodological Center “Service learning”.

One of the main problems of the society is the growing number of people in need in Mangistau region. Only, according to official data, 27,000 disabled people are registered in our regional social protection bodies, including 5,188 disabled children, which is 20% of the total number of disabled people, 290 children with paralysis, 92 children with autism, 65 children with Down syndrome; 132 elderly people live in nursing homes, 33 children in special orphanages. The above-mentioned issues, taking into account their importance, indicate the relevance of the work of the center “service to society”.

YESSENOV UNIVERSITY positions itself as an entrepreneurial and socially responsible University. One of the most important values of our university is openness and responsiveness. Creativity, that is, public responsibility, is considered a service to society. Therefore, since September 1, 2018, The Center “Service learning” was the first among regional universities to be included in the curriculum of our University.

The main goal of the discipline” Service learning “(Service to society) is aimed at students ‘ formation of an active life position and acquisition of project activity skills, understanding the psychological foundations of effective communication, critical thinking, including suggestions for solving specific problems of society.

In April 2019, during a visit to our University, the president of the Republic of Kazakhstan K. K. Tokayev gave a high assessment of the importance of the “Service learning” Center for the development of society and solving social problems.

In the 2019-2020 academic year, about 1,600 students have experience serving the community. To date, work has been carried out and implemented about 270 student projects in various spheres of society’s life. “Such projects as “” happy childhood smile””, “” barrier – free future””, “” ulttin Umiti-good youth””, “” no fall pigeon””, “” Talpyn””, “”Clean City””, “”Meyirim””, “”Kind Hearts””, “”flower of childhood””, “”Asar””, “”safety is the main task “” are being implemented.” and so on. projects have been implemented, relations have been established with about 25 social organizations and social institutions of the University, and contacts are still being held to expand its scope.

Structural components of the curriculum of the discipline” Service learning”: implemented in 2 stages.

At the 1st stage-theoretical knowledge through lectures for 5 weeks:

Week 6-team up in your chosen areas and develop a project proposal;

In the 7th week-protects projects. The price of protection determines the price of Stage 1 control.

At the 2nd stage-project activity, which lasts 7 weeks. The chosen project will depend on the sphere of social activity, i.e. social organizations.

Projects of the center “service to society”: social

  • Environmental Protection
  • Sports and medical
  • Civil Defense
  • Education
  • Work is underway in such key areas as digital volunteering.

On February 5, 2020, the opening ceremony of the “Year of volunteers” in Mangystau region was organized at the highest level together with the secretariat of the APK of Mangystau region and the KSU Department of internal policy of the Department of go.

In 2019-2020, the cooperation of the Center” Kogamga kyzmet ” with partner institutions was expanded at the national and international levels.

In particular, a memorandum was signed with the autonomous general education non-profit organization “Education Volunteers” of the Russian Federation, headed by Buganov Tamerlan, and the Dagestan humanitarian Institute, headed by Gadzhidadayev Magomed Zayirbegovich, and work was carried out to improve the international level of the center.

Also, in the 2019-2020 academic year, together with the “national volunteer network” of the Republic of Kazakhstan, special events were organized to promote charitable ideas in society.

At the initiative of the president of the Republic of Kazakhstan K. K. Tokayev, more than 600 quotas were allocated for the social Student Loan Project on the basis of the online portal QazVolunter, more than 300 students were registered, and 5 social projects were implemented.ACTIVITIES OF THE INNOVATIVE EDUCATIONAL AND METHODOLOGICAL CENTER “SERVICE TO SOCIETY” FOR THE 2020-2021 ACADEMIC YEAR

 

Our university has started its activity since the 2018 academic year at the Department of “Assembly of people of Kazakhstan” and is currently conducting large – scale work in the region-an innovative educational and methodological Center “Service learning”.

One of the main problems of the society is the growing number of people in need in Mangistau region. Only, according to official data, 27,000 disabled people are registered in our regional social protection bodies, including 5,188 disabled children, which is 20% of the total number of disabled people, 290 children with paralysis, 92 children with autism, 65 children with Down syndrome; 132 elderly people live in nursing homes, 33 children in special orphanages. The above-mentioned issues, taking into account their importance, indicate the relevance of the work of the center “service to society”.

YESSENOV UNIVERSITY positions itself as an entrepreneurial and socially responsible University. One of the most important values of our university is openness and responsiveness. Creativity, that is, public responsibility, is considered a service to society. Therefore, since September 1, 2018, The Center “Service learning” was the first among regional universities to be included in the curriculum of our University.

The main goal of the discipline” Service learning “(Service to society) is aimed at students ‘ formation of an active life position and acquisition of project activity skills, understanding the psychological foundations of effective communication, critical thinking, including suggestions for solving specific problems of society.

In April 2019, during a visit to our University, the president of the Republic of Kazakhstan K. K. Tokayev gave a high assessment of the importance of the “Service learning” Center for the development of society and solving social problems.

In the 2019-2020 academic year, about 1,600 students have experience serving the community. To date, work has been carried out and implemented about 270 student projects in various spheres of society’s life. “Such projects as “” happy childhood smile””, “” barrier – free future””, “” ulttin Umiti-good youth””, “” no fall pigeon””, “” Talpyn””, “”Clean City””, “”Meyirim””, “”Kind Hearts””, “”flower of childhood””, “”Asar””, “”safety is the main task “” are being implemented.” and so on. projects have been implemented, relations have been established with about 25 social organizations and social institutions of the University, and contacts are still being held to expand its scope.

Structural components of the curriculum of the discipline” Service learning”: implemented in 2 stages.

At the 1st stage-theoretical knowledge through lectures for 5 weeks:

Week 6-team up in your chosen areas and develop a project proposal;

In the 7th week-protects projects. The price of protection determines the price of Stage 1 control.

At the 2nd stage-project activity, which lasts 7 weeks. The chosen project will depend on the sphere of social activity, i.e. social organizations.

Projects of the center “service to society”: social

– Environmental Protection

– Sports and medical

– Civil Defense

– Education

– Work is underway in such key areas as digital volunteering.

On February 5, 2020, the opening ceremony of the “Year of volunteers” in Mangystau region was organized at the highest level together with the secretariat of the APK of Mangystau region and the KSU Department of internal policy of the Department of go.

In 2019-2020, the cooperation of the Center” Kogamga kyzmet ” with partner institutions was expanded at the national and international levels.

In particular, a memorandum was signed with the autonomous general education non-profit organization “Education Volunteers” of the Russian Federation, headed by Buganov Tamerlan, and the Dagestan humanitarian Institute, headed by Gadzhidadayev Magomed Zayirbegovich, and work was carried out to improve the international level of the center.

Also, in the 2019-2020 academic year, together with the “national volunteer network” of the Republic of Kazakhstan, special events were organized to promote charitable ideas in society.

At the initiative of the president of the Republic of Kazakhstan K. K. Tokayev, more than 600 quotas were allocated for the social Student Loan Project on the basis of the online portal QazVolunter, more than 300 students were registered, and 5 social projects were implemented.

The 45th anniversary of Yessenov University

Posted on by Saya Aitbay

One of the leading universities of the Caspian region, Caspian Technology and Engineering University named after Sh.Yessenov (Yessenov University) had a very spectacular and bright journey of 45 years across the time. Through progressive reforms on the development and modernization of education in the country, the University became the platform for major changes relating to both expanding the material and technical base, and improving the research and educational potential of the university.

Yessenov University is the hub for education and upbringing, science and culture in the region. The university trains specialists for the oil and gas industry, road transport, mechanical engineering, as well as pedagogy, law, economics, information systems, standardization, finance, geology, ecology, heat power engineering, and construction.

The 45th anniversary of Yessenov University was celebrated on December 2-3, 2021. The celebration consisted of a number of events that included Forum, concerts and General Assembly. On December 2, in honor of the 45th anniversary of Yessenov University, a Forum was attended by the Mayor of Mangistau region Nurlan Nogayev, Executive Director of the Association of universities and research centers of the Caspian states Yuri Pimenov, President of the Association of universities of the Republic of Kazakhstan Rakhman Alshanov, Managing Director of the Kazakh Institute of Oil and Gas Zhaksybek Kulekeyev, President of the Almaty University of Management Asylbek Kozhakhmetov, General Director of the Eurasian Center for Population Management, an expert in the field of social and labor relations and strategic communications Yerbol Ismailov, travel blogger, eco-activist, civil journalist Yakov Fedorov held the opening ceremony of Yessenov Forum: New Meanings, which last two days.

As a part of the occasion, the XXIII General Assembly of the Association of universities and research centers of the Caspian countries was held on these dates to summarize the achievements and widen the cooperation between the states. Rectors of universities of the Republic of Kazakhstan, rectors of the Association of the Caspian States, opinion leaders by industry, stakeholders, higher education experts, educational organizations and students of the Mangystau region took part in an important event that determines the prospects for the development of the university for the next 5 years. The Assembly was attended by the scientific representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Russia and the CIS Mohsen Najafi, representatives of the consulates of the region, rectors of the Association of the Caspian states and rectors of Kazakhstani universities. As a result, a series of memorandums of cooperation were signed between the Association of universities of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Association of state universities and research centers of the Caspian countries.

New energy source for car is created in Al-Farabi Kazakh National University

Posted on by Lazzat Mukhtar

Tolganay Temirgalieva, a doctoral student at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, a researcher at the Institute of Combustion Problems, creates supercapacitors – new generation batteries. In the manufacture of lithium batteries, rare earth, reactive metals are used that are toxic during use and disposal.

The advantage of such batteries is a long life cycle: up to 1 million charge-discharges versus 3 thousand for lithium ones. In addition, supercapacitors are dozens of times lighter than traditional ones and release a charge very quickly: a mobile phone can be fully charged in just seconds.

Supercapacitors have less energy stored in 1 kg of the device than in a lithium battery. Energy capacity is increased due to nanotechnology. “Tolganai uses nanotubes instead of polymers used in lithium batteries. This is the uniqueness of her work, ”says Mukhtar Eleuov, a colleague of the inventor from the Institute of Combustion Problems.

The nanotubes were developed at Waseda University (Tokyo) under the guidance of Professor Suguru Noda. The Japanese have also created and are already selling carbon-based electrodes. But their material “Kurarai” has a capacity of 120 farads, and the materials of Tolganay – 180-200 farads per gram. Therefore, the Japanese professor began to cooperate with a scientist from Kazakhstan: from them – nanotubes, from us – coal from waste. “Using materials based on rice hulls and apricot kernels, it achieved good performance comparable to commercial activated carbon,” comments Professor Noda.

So far, the development of Tolganai can be used for electric vehicles. When the volumes of supercapacitors are “compressed” to the size of batteries for portable devices, the scope of their application will significantly expand.

Carbon-containing materials at the junction of interdisciplinary scientific programs of chemistry and biomedicine

Posted on by Al- Farabi Kazakh National University

In 2018, at the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (Al-Farabi KAZNU), an educational program for pharmaceutical production technology (TPP) was opened, the symbiosis of which is chemistry and pharmaceutics; under the program of nanotechnology and nanomaterials, the disciplines of the module of fundamentals of biotechnology, nanoengineering in biotechnology, computer modelling of nanostructures and the bionanosystems industry are taught.

Students learn to build physicochemical models of the studied phenomena in medicine,
select experimental methods and electronic equipment, assess the consistency of the use of nanotechnological developments in medicine. Interdisciplinarity allows students to apply modelling methods using modern software to solve basic problems in relation to the modelling of nanosystems.

One of the successful developments of students and staff of the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology is the synthesis of new sorbents for multifunctional biomedical use. Carbon-containing sorbents for biomedical purposes are obtained by thermal-oxidative modification of rice peels. This process ensures the formation of the necessary structural and physicochemical properties of the final products.

On the initiative of the staff of al-Farabi KazNU, together with medical organizations of Kazakhstan and foreign partners, special laboratories for the production of drugs that are urgently needed for the health care of the republic are prepared and tested, among them are a cartridge for blood purification with carbon hemosorbent, in the form of a multichannel monoblock of laminar flow UG-1, sorption-bactericidal bandage “Aibolit”
and capsules with enterosorbent Bio Life.

The novelty of the technology lies in the unique composition and structure of carbon-containing nanostructured sorbents. The synthesized sorbent has an optimal pore structure in the macro-, meso- and nanoscale regions. This determines the versatility and speed of action of the drugs and its high sorption capacity.

The fundamental difference between the products and existing analogues is that carbon-containing nanostructured sorbents are characterized by natural origin, high efficiency, the content of natural silicon dioxide, the presence of mesopores, the absence of genetically
modified objects and any artificial ingredients.

The products have a low cost and a high degree of commercialization within the republic and abroad.

Thus, in order to develop a technology for the synthesis of a modern innovative medical device, specialists in the related fields of chemistry and medicine, who participate in the treatment and diagnostic process and who are the developers of new drugs for medicine, are urgently needed.