Quality Assurance in Higher Education: Eurasian Forum Held at MNU

Maqsut Narikbayev University hosted the 8th Eurasian Forum on Quality Assurance in Higher Education. Representatives of the relevant ministry and accreditation agencies, university leaders, and Kazakhstani and international experts discussed the implementation of new technologies and the challenges faced by universities.

In an era of rapid digitalisation, the growing prevalence of artificial intelligence (AI), and the evolving demands of the global labour market, universities are under pressure to rethink their approaches to teaching and governance. These challenges formed the core of the forum’s discussions. Zhaksybek Kulekeev, Chair of the Supervisory Board of the Independent Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (IQAA), emphasised that the quality of education today is inextricably linked to the flexibility of academic programmes and their ability to respond to the real needs of the economy.

“In his address, the Head of State stressed that Kazakhstan is an integral part of the global community and is located at the very heart of the Eurasian continent. Despite global uncertainty, the country has made a decisive step towards the synchronisation of artificial intelligence. For Kazakhstani universities, AI is not just a new technology influencing the university’s mission – it is also a responsibility towards society and the younger generation,” noted Zhaksybek Kulekeev.

Leaders of several Kazakhstani universities shared their approaches to applying AI in education. MNU Provost Sergey Pen presented concrete examples of integrating AI at Maqsut Narikbayev University. He outlined the practical measures taken to embed new technologies into teaching and research, as well as efforts to foster an innovation-driven environment.

“Modern education must go beyond basic prompt engineering, which has already become commonplace. The key task now is to teach students how to break down complex problems into micro-processes. Instead of working with a single AI model, they must learn the architecture and management of multi-agent systems, where each system performs a specific, narrow task. The ability to design and coordinate such systems to achieve accurate results is the new challenge for academic programmes,” said Sergey Pen.

The forum also featured contributions from experts from Belgium and Slovenia, who shared insights on the use of AI in accreditation procedures and current trends in external quality assurance. This was the fourth time that Maqsut Narikbayev University had hosted the Eurasian Forum on Quality Assurance in Higher Education. The event was organised jointly with IQAA and supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan.