THE KAZAKHSTAN EXPERIENCE ON IDENTIFICATION OF THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

M. Yeseyeva, N. Anarbek,

Kazakh State Women’s Pedagogical University

Al-Farabi Kazakh National University

The main provisions of the international project “Tuning Educational Structures in Europe” which involves about 200 universities from different countries are set forth in this report. The main goal of this project is the development and completion of the Bologna Process: development of appropriate and comparable curricula, ensuring the openness of the education system, building of trust between universities, etc. The report also describes the main achievements of the higher education system in the Republic of Kazakhstan within the framework of joining the Bologna Process.

Keywords: higher education system, the Bologna Process, identification of the educational programs, credit system of education, competence, three-tier system of higher education.

The Bologna ideas have been nurtured in European higher education for decades. Many of its parameters existing at present appeared in the national systems of higher education in Europe long before the signing of the documents taken as the basis of the Bologna Process. In some European countries there were the independent levels of higher education leading to bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Various types of academic credits were also used for decades. The mobility of students and mobility of teachers were becoming more and more popular.

The international project “Tuning Educational Structures in Europe” involving about 200 universities from different countries [1] has been implemented for harmonization of educational programs since the year 2000 within the framework of the Bologna Process. The main goal of this project is the development and completion of the Bologna Process. The project does not consider the education system, but its structure and content. While the education systems are the responsibility of the state, the structure and content are the responsibility of the universities and professors.

A new methodology has been created within the framework of the project “Tuning”, which enables the development of curricula, making them comparable. Five approaches have been pointed out:

1) General academic competences;

2) Specific competences for a particular sphere;

3) The role of the European Credit Transfer System as an accumulation system;

4) Approaches to teaching, learning and assessment;

5) The role of quality improvement in the education system.

Let’s reveal shortly the essence of each approach.

1) The competences, which a graduate should have, were divided into the general and subject, or subject-oriented ones. 30 general competences (that are meaningfully divided into the instrumental, interpersonal and systemic) were pointed out.

1. The instrumental competences mean the ability to understand the environment and manage it; the ability to organize and plan; basic computer skills and linguistic skills.

2. The interpersonal competences mean the individual abilities such as the social skills, teamwork and cooperation.

3. The system-based competences mean a combination of understanding, attitude and knowledge which allows to perceive how the parts of a whole relate to each other and to evaluate the position of each component in the system.

2) Special parameters-descriptors should be worked out by the relevant professional communities. The special competences on the basis of seven professional fields: the business administration, management, pedagogy, geology, history, mathematics, physics have been developed within the framework of the international project “Tuning Educational Structures in Europe”.

Consideration of competences includes five areas or aspects: knowledge and understanding, application of knowledge and understanding, judgment, information interaction, study skills (Table 1).

- A graduate is awarded the qualification on the basis of the obtained competencies. The concept of qualification has narrow and wide interpretation. [2] The narrow qualification is almost equal to the level and degree. When it is referred to a wide interpretation, a level is only the part of qualification, and the qualification is generally defined by a set of the following characteristics:

- Load is understood as the total number of “earned” credits;

- Level: the adoption of three levels (cycles) of higher education (bachelor, master, doctor) by all countries is emphasized in all the basic documents of the Bologna Process;

- Acquired results are the definitions of what a learner should know, understand and demonstrate after completion of the learning process. They can relate to the course or module, and any period of the learning process. The learning outcomes indicate the requirements of credits. They are formed by the academic teaching staff;

- Competence is a dynamic combination of world-view, knowledge and skills. The development of such competence is the problem of educational programs. The competence is formed in various disciplines and at different stages of learning. Distinguishing of the acquired results and competencies is somewhat artificial as the competences are the results. The main characteristic of the program is, first of all, the planned results (learning outcomes), i.e. actually the competences plus the amount of credits. Students receive the competences.

The learning outcomes are expressed in terms of competences. The competences may be higher than the desired learning outcomes;

- Profile is developed by teachers of an institution and approved by the relevant government authorities; is as a kind of response to a specific need that society recognizes as a current.

The use of the learning outcomes as a key principle of building of the educational programs represents a conceptual shift from an educational model focused on the teacher to a model focused on the educational activities of a student. The acquisition and transfer of knowledge have been focused in the traditional paradigm of education. The European model focused on the student means that exactly the student is in the center of the educational process. Change of the educational paradigm involves not only the change in the role of teacher and teaching process organization, but also the focus on how the educational program is mastered by a student, how his individual learning path can be structured, what should be the study load and how it should be calculated, what ways of teaching should be chosen and how to evaluate their usefulness in terms of the learning outcomes and competences formed by a student. The learning outcomes determined on the basis of social and economic needs of the society determine in many ways the competitiveness of educational programs.

The structure of the educational programs in the framework of the “TUNING” methodology is formed with due consideration of the units of equal size – the modules allowing to distribute optimally the study load of students in different phases of studying. A limited number of credits in the standardized (for the program or series of programs) multiple numbers is assigned to each module (e.g. 5, 10, 15 or 3, 6, 12 and so on; the countdown is 60 credits per year). Mastering of each module completes by evaluation of its results. A similar principle of the equality (equal amounts) of the modules makes it easy to relate different educational programs to each other and readopt the modules mastered by the students during the process of academic mobility. The module may include the academic subjects in whole or certain branches of the disciplines. The term “course units” is used to denote them.

Cycle	Knowledge and understanding	Applying of knowledge and understanding	Judgment	Information interaction	Study skills
The first cycle: Bachelor	Provision with the enhanced study textbooks, including the elements of the most advanced knowledge in the area of study.	[Through] working out and justifying arguments.	[Includes] the collection and interpretation of information (usually within the study area).	Exchange of information, ideas, problems and solutions.	Acquisition of the skills necessary to continue education with a high degree of independence
The second cycle: Master	The basis or the possibility for the unique development or applying ideas, often in the context of scientific research.	[Through] problem solving in new or unfamiliar situations and contexts within the broader (or multidisciplinary) areas.	[Shows] the ability to integrate knowledge, cope with the complexities and make judgments based on incomplete information.	Informing specialists and non- specialists about own findings and basic knowledge	Studying in a greater or lesser degree independently or fully independently.
The third cycle: Doctor	[Include] the systematic understanding of study area, mastery of skills and research techniques used in a specific area.	[Demonstrates abilities] to plan, develop, implement and update a comprehensive process of research with academic integrity. [In the context of] the ability to make contribution with own original research to expansion of the frontiers of knowledge, some of which may merit publication in a national or international level.	[The need for] the skill to critically analyze, evaluate, and synthesize new and complex ideas.	Informing the colleagues, scientific community and the general public about own knowledge and achievements in a general context (dialogue) of study areas (wide range).	The specialist should promote the technological, social and cultural development in the academic or professional context.

Table 1. Characteristics of Competences on Areas and Cycles

European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) is one of the most important means facilitating the mobility of students and comparability of educational programs. ECTS was developed by the European Commission in 1997 on the basis of a comparability of the complexity of the study load provided for a) each subject; b) the total complexity of the study load per a semester; c) the total complexity of the study load per an academic year; d) for the entire period of study. A student’s study load (i.e. the amount of time (in-class learning, self-study, practice, etc.) needed to achieve certain learning outcomes) is taken into consideration in the ECTS credits. Credits are awarded in the case of successful mastering of a certain part of the program by a student (module or course unit) and do not depend on the assigned grades or the degree of importance of the course for professional qualification. One credit is equal to 25-30 hours of study time. Work efforts of a student during one academic year may not exceed 60 credits.

According to available data, the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) is most widely used in five European countries: France, Spain, Germany, Italy and the UK. The ECTS system facilitates the recognition of students’ achievements in the study through the recognized measures: credits and gradations; it also provides the means of interpreting the national systems of higher education. The system is based on three core elements: information (on the study programs and student’s progress), mutual agreement (between the partner institutions and a student) and the use of credits (to indicate the workload/performance capability of a student.)

Gradations. Examination and assessment of results are usually expressed in gradations. However, many different gradation systems co-exist in Europe. In addition, the area of transfers increased with the concern of the majority of students participating in ECTS, as well as of the mobile students in general:

a) On the one hand, the interpretation of gradation varies considerably in respect of one or more subjects in different states and universities;

b) On the other hand, the failure to establish a correspondence between the gradations could have serious consequences for a mobile student.

As a result, the European Commission established an expert working group to identify the problem. Information, comments and statistics provided by eighty universities participating in the ECTS and eighty four universities not participating in the ECTS at that time were taken into account in drawing up the so-called gradation scale of the ECTS. All subject research groups agreed to use the gradation scale of the ECTS to verify its effectiveness [3].

Thus, the gradation scale of the ECTS has been developed to help universities to transfer the credits awarded by the host universities to the students of the ECTS. It provides additional information about the student’s knowledge to the existing gradations of a university; it does not replace the local graduations. Universities are free to decide how to apply the gradation scale of the ECTS to their own systems.

Kazakhstan’s accession to the Bologna Process on 12 March 2010 consolidated the desire for mobility and improvement of quality of the education system of Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan became the 47-th country having signed the Bologna Declaration. In connection with the accession to the Bologna Process we must comply with the European Credit Transfer System ECTS. At present the Kazakhstani Credit Transfer System (KCTS) is being developed.

Let’s consider the main achievements of the higher education system in the framework of the accession to the Bologna Process [4]. Implementation of the basic principles of the Bologna Declaration in Kazakhstan at the state level:

- since 1998 – creation of the National System of Education Quality Assessment (NSEQA);

- since 2005 – the guidelines on the implementation of the standard model intramural system of quality assurance; change of the procedure and accreditation criteria; establishment of the National Center of Educational Quality Assessment, the National Accreditation Center, the National Center of Qualification Validation and Certification;

- since 2003 – the experiment to introduce the credit system;

- since 2004 – development of a new generation of state standards (competence-based approach, credits);

- since 2004 – adoption of the three-tier system of education;

- 2007 – Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Education”, which provides for the three-tier system of higher education; the Master’s degree program is involved by the post-graduate education phase, etc.;

- 2010 – Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Science”;

- 2010 – Kazakhstan’s accession to the Bologna Process, etc.

Implementation of the basic principles of the Bologna Declaration in Kazakhstan at the institutional level:

- since 2003 – the leading universities of Kazakhstan signed the Great Charter;

- development and implementation of joint international programs; development of programs in foreign languages; modular design of educational programs; international accreditation of programs; quality system certification; rating system; participation in international consortia, networks and programs.

Introduction of a cyclical system in Kazakhstan makes it necessary to review all the existing study programs that are not associated with the cycle. In practice, such programs should be “redrawn”, because in the cyclical system each cycle should be considered as a whole. The first two cycles should give a student not only access to the next cycle, but also the right to enter the labor market. This also concerns the so-called “short cycles of study”.

In England, Diploma of Higher Education has been introduced since the early 70-s. It is issued at the end of a 2-year study cycle. The intermediate degrees awarded after completion of a 2-year study program have different names in different countries: the associates in the U.S., a university wide training diploma in France, a document on the successful completion of the basic training phase in Germany. Introduction of the associated bachelor’s degree with the issuance of certificates is planned in the modern Kazakhstani education by 2012-2014.

In conclusion, we wish to emphasize that the Bologna Process does not cover the whole variety of directions of development of higher education in European countries and is not a synonym for the “reform of higher education in Kazakhstan”.

Bibliography:

1. “Educational Structures Tuning in Europe” // http://www.bolognakg.net/doc/ Tuning%20Universities.pdf

2. A. Mynbayeva “Educational Structures Tuning: the European Experience and Prospects for Kazakhstan” // “Educational Programs of Universities of Foreign Countries Participating in the Bologna Process: Specificity and Identification Problems in Kazakhstan”. Almaty, Kazakh Universiteti, 2009, p. 101-107.

3. “Objectives and Methodology of the Tuning Project” // www.bolognakg.net/.../ Tuning_Objectives_and_Methofology_Tuning2.doc

4. N. Anarbek “Variability of Higher Education under the Era of Globalization: Monograph”. Almaty, 2009, p. 244.

В данном докладе изложены основные положения международного проекта Tuning educational structures in Europe, в котором участвует около 200 университетов из разных стран. Главной целью данного проекта является развитие и завершение Болонского процесса: выработка подходящих и сопоставимых учебных планов, обеспечение открытости образовательной системы, построение доверия между университетами и т.д. Также в докладе рассмотрены основные достижения системы высшего образования Республики Казахстан в русле присоединения к болонскому процессу.

Ключевые слова: система высшего образования, болонский процесс, идентификация образовательных программ, кредитная технология обучения, компетенции, трехступенчатая система высшего образования.