Leadership of MEPhI and East Kazakhstan State Technical University named after D.Serikbayev held a meeting to discuss new areas of joint educational programs.

EKSTU rector Zhasulan Shaimardanov confirmed that both sides consider necessary to create new joint educational programs in the field of electronics and IT technologies. Rector of MEPhI Mikhail Strikhanov noted: “The strength of East Kazakhstan University is its practical orientation and close connection to the employer. It brings us together. With regard to MEPhI, the strong point is a good theoretical base, which makes it possible to prepare students with capable of adapting to new labour market conditions. Both universities work under task orders of the industry. In this sense, it is very mutually reinforcing. Our plans for the future include diversification of educational programs”.

Cooperation between MEPhI and EKSTU has been under way since 2017.  This year, in the framework of the supplementary agreement signed on April 8 to the Memorandum of Cooperation, four programs for joint training of bachelors and masters were launched. Programs are implemented according to the model of included education: Kazakhstan students are taught at the undergraduate and graduate programs of MEPhI with parallel development of educational modules (courses) at EKSTU.

In the educational systems of Kazakhstan and Russia there are controversies in the volume of hours allocated to certain subjects. In this case, additional efforts are required to optimize and develop a unified approach to comply with the laws of both countries. Nevertheless, despite the difficulties, the bachelor's program of double diploma “Physics and Chemistry of Materials and Processes” has already been launched in the current academic year for training personnel in the field of the nuclear industry. The program trains 49 people. Graduates of the program will receive two diplomas — EKSTU and MEPhI.

“On the one hand, the double diploma program allows students to have a close relationship with their future place of work, because they are still students of Kazakhstan university and can practice at the enterprises of Kazatomprom. On the other hand, they can study at MEPhI and get really very high competency, ” said Tatyana Leonova, Vice-Rector of MEPhI.

The working group of EKSTU and MEPhI discusses the prospects for the development of new joint educational programs for undergraduate and graduate programs in the field of information technology, instrumentation and materials science.

«We do not stop developing cooperation, despite significant achievements. We are thinking about new areas of cooperation. This will not only be material science: we plan to create programs in the field of IT and electronics. In addition, there are plans to prepare joint teams for WorldSkills competitions, ” added Tatyana Leonova.