The executive management of NU (NU) held a press conference Saturday, Dec 3, where President Shigeo Katsu and Vice President for Student Affairs and International Cooperation Kadisha Dairova met with media representatives to share the latest news and updates related to NU and answered journalists’ questions.
NU President Shigeo Katsu outlined the areas where the university made considerable leaps. NU has become the first successful model of a modern research university in Kazakhstan and it continues to share this experience with other Kazakh universities, leading the higher education system reform. By building a solid national capacity in research and application of research-based innovations in the Kazakh economy, NU has become a magnet for talented young people, and NU graduates are starting to stand out. The university is also contributing to the development of Astana, as an integral asset to the emerging and budding metropolis, a center for higher learning and research.
“When we talk about entrepreneurship – creating new enterprises, it is not just for-profit enterprises. Quite a number of our graduates are very active in social entrepreneurship, and those, in particular, made me very proud because it gives you a concrete sense of them. Thus, our students and graduates understand that it is their duty and responsibility to give back to society. So we have quite a number of our alumni who work with disabled persons and children with learning disabilities or children in poor regions and households and so on,” said NU President.
According to the 2018-2030 Strategy, NU strives to establish itself as a world-renowned, internationally known, research-oriented university. One of its ambitious goals is to join the top 20 percentile of the world’s topmost research universities by 2030.
“When we set out with this goal in 2018, the total number of universities that entered the ranking was 1,100. Now, about four years later, they are ranking 1,800-1,900. So by 2030, we can reasonably expect that we will have to compete with 2,500-3,000 research universities worldwide. And what does it actually mean? It means that countries are realizing that investment in education, public education, research and innovation is very important for national sovereignty,” Shigeo Katsu said.
As part of its innovation activities, NU is planning to build a business campus in Astana for young entrepreneurs, where foreign companies will be invited to cooperate with local enterprises. The university also intends to become a part of the biomedical cluster, in alliance with the vision of the Kazakh Ministry of Health, to develop and produce drugs.
“The Biomedical part is going to be a very important part of our future development. Regarding our school of medicine and the UMC hospital system, we have plans for them to become integrated into one of the leading United States hospital systems, so that we are going to be part of the international hospital system. And that will help us not only to show that topnotch medical practice and care is carried out here (in Astana) and we can all comfortably rely on the delivery of medical care, but also, that it will induce and create an inbound medical tourism,” NU President added.
During the press conference, one of the big misconceptions about NU was debunked – that children from rural areas cannot get into NU. Annually, about 25% of all students who enter the university come from socially vulnerable families or are graduates of rural schools. NIS or Bilim-Innovation chain schools contributed tremendously to the NU student body, however, 60% of the new intake are the graduates of public schools. Hard work and drive to succeed helped these students be accepted at NU, Vice President for Student Affairs and International Cooperation Kadisha Dairova believes.
“Institutions are measured by the quality of their students. Our graduates’ competencies are the representation of the quality of education that we provide. We are proud of them, they are our ambassadors. And they have proven that the NU diploma can compete with the world’s leading universities. We continuously receive positive feedback,” added Kadisha Dairova.
NU President Shigeo Katsu also mentioned a 25% decrease in state funding, starting this year. He noted that this was both a challenge and an opportunity to accelerate the transition to a much more diversified revenue base. Expanding tuition can become the foundation for the sustainability of the University’s financial future.
