RAISING A PROGRESSIVE NATION: THE ROLE OF UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

In the first days of the new calendar year, as a rule, the foundations and plans for the future are laid. This morning the whole country had the opportunity to get acquainted with the main ideas of the Head of State and his views on the future of the country. For us, as representatives of the young leadership of one of the leading universities in Kazakhstan, such events are significant. You especially understand this through the prism of your specific activity.

In an interview with the Egemen Qazaqstan newspaper, the Head of State spoke about domestic and foreign policy, the socio-economic development of the country, the January events of 2022, domestic violence, the construction of nuclear power plants and other relevant topics. The personal authority of Kassym-Zhomart Kemelevich Tokayev in world diplomacy is an illustrative example for the teaching staff and students of the Faculty of Oriental Studies of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University. The opening of the faculty took place during the years of Kazakhstan’s independence, when the country needed new specialists in international relations, especially in the countries of the East. So, for more than 30 years, the faculty has been graduating orientalists - analysts, scientists, diplomats.

Therefore, for us, representatives of university oriental studies education, the words are especially valuable: “In the current difficult geopolitical conditions, it is important for Kazakhstan to develop mutually beneficial and pragmatic cooperation with all our foreign partners.” The faculty has close cooperation with educational organizations in Eastern countries; more than 50 cooperation agreements have been concluded and are in force. Graduates of the departments of Arabic studies, Iranian studies, Indology, Sinology, Korean studies, Japanese studies, Urdu, Hindi, and Turkology will become links not only in ensuring the inviolability of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, protecting the rights and interests of citizens of Kazakhstan, but also in creating favorable conditions for sustainable economic growth , such as in attracting investment from Eastern countries.

In 2024, the Faculty of Oriental Studies of Al-Farabi KazNU plans to hold major events dedicated to the 90th anniversary of Al-Farabi KazNU. Thus, in April 2024 the General Assembly of the Silk Road University Network (SUN) will be held. The dialogue platform will bring together representatives of such famous universities of the world as the Hanguk University of Foreign Studies (South Korea), the University of Coimbra (Portugal), the University of Ankara (Turkey), the University of Co-Foscari (Italy), the University of Valencia (Spain), the University of Bucharest (Romania) ), Beijing Foreign Studies University (PRC), Imam Khomeini International University (Iran), Allame Tabatabai University (Iran), Dongguk University (South Korea), University of Malaya (Malaysia), Mongolian State University (Mongolia), Moscow State Linguistic University (RF), Uzbek State University of World Languages ​​(Uzbekistan).

Another no less significant event during the celebration of the anniversary of the country’s main university will be a meeting of the heads of universities of the Campus project on the Campus on the basis of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University. The corps of rectors will unite such universities as the University of Bordeaux, the National Taiwan University, the University of Sao Paulo, the University of Technology in Malaysia, the University of California at Irvine, Utrich, the University of Grenoble-Alpbach, the Ohio National University, and the Ruhr University.

As well as a number of other international conferences and round tables that will create an atmosphere of academics and science, befitting a world-class university, where “the cult of work and productive creativity exists, the power of knowledge and creative thinking triumphs.”

The teaching staff of the university, like no one else, puts in the first place the education of the younger generation with the priorities of national values. “Unity, solidarity, hard work, the cult of knowledge, professionalism, mutual support, entrepreneurship, initiative, honesty, modesty, frugality - this is a set of values ​​and qualities of real citizens and patriots,” the President emphasizes in his interview. And the main territory where these qualities are cultivated should be the university site, capable of forming “a new quality of our nation.”

Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies Natalya Borisovna Yem