The Board of Trustees of NU, headed by Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov, considered the results of the University’s activities for the past year and plans for the coming period on March 4, 2023. The National Bank Chairman Galymzhan Pirmatov, Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Finance Yerulan Zhamaubayev, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Timur Suleimenov, heads of several other government agencies, NU President Shigeo Katsu and other members of the Board of Trustees participated in the meeting.
At the meeting, NU Provost Ilesanmi Adesida noted that the University continues to expand its academic activities. Research projects have increased from 146 to 366 in the last few years. At the same time, the University is working on transferring its experience to other higher educational institutions through thematic conferences and professional development programs.
Massimo Pignatelli, the NU Vice President for Medicine, reported the NU School of Medicine is actively involved in the Astana pharmaceutical cluster’s development, implemented to increase the share of domestic producers in the medicines and medical product market. In addition, based on the University Medical Center (UMC), several complex surgical operations are performed, some of them for the first time in Kazakhstan.
NU scientists received patents, including international ones, and grants for commercialization in 2022. For example, a project on using robots in the fight against autism has been implemented in 22 rehabilitation centers.
The Prime Minister stressed that the University needs to further strengthen research activities and its commercialization so that domestic applied developments more often find their application in various fields. “In general, it is necessary to analyze and, if necessary, to update the indicators of the Development Strategy of the University until 2030 and the Research Development Program for 2021-2025,” Alikhan Smailov said.
The meeting also included a report on some of the NU students’ and graduates’ achievements. For instance, the NU iGEM team has achieved high results in the annual global competition iGEM on synthetic biology, students have published their scientific articles in leading world journals, and the initiative “University Bridge” that aimed at sharing experiences and creating a network of young researchers across Kazakhstan implemented.
Also, the participants discussed several organizational issues and the implementation of investment and construction projects. The Prime Minister presented a reconstruction project of the administrative building in Almaty, which will be used as a school of artificial intelligence at the University, plans to increase accommodation in student dormitories, and other initiatives.
