The history of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University makes it possible to assert that entire dynasties were formed within its walls, involved in the affairs and achievements of the flagship of higher education of the Republic, which characterizes the loyalty and firmness of the chosen positions, commitment to the chosen path and, of course, the continuity of generations. These include the family of Gulnas Kenzhetaevna Akhmetova.
The distant 1939... Several young people decided to get from Bayanaul to Alma-Ata in order to get a higher education at KazSU named after S.M. Kirov, the only university in the republic at that time. At that time, it was possible to get from the North to the South only through detours along the Turksib and, as Gulnas' father Kenzhetai Akhmetov later recalled, they reached the capital of Kazakhstan for about one month. He said that in the indescribable heat he was wearing sheepskin leather trousers. Some of the young people could not reach the final route, someone returned from the regional center of Pavlodar, and someone got off the train halfway, unable to withstand the road, heat and hunger. Kenzhetai entered the preparatory department of the biological faculty of KazSU. However life had its own way - from the university, at the call of the military commissariat, he went to the Finnish War, and then to the Great Patriotic War.
This story is already 80 years old, in fact, it is an integral part of the history of Al-Farabi KazNU. Kenzhetai Akhmetov was unable to complete his studies, but his children and grandchildren realized his dream of getting a classical education at KazGU. It is deeply symbolic that his daughter Gulnas Kenzhetaevna Akhmetova, now a Doctor of pedagogical Sciences, Professor, corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Chairman of the Board of JSC National Center for Advanced Training "Orleu", worked for many years at KazNU and studied at such a prestigious university, as if realizing her father's dream.
Moreover, as Gulnas Kenzhetaevna tells, Kenzhetai Akhmetovich's documents were repeatedly searched in various archives to find out which university he studied at. And what a surprise it was to find these documents in the archive of Al-Farabi KazNU!
In 1999, G.K. Akhmetova completed her doctoral studies at KazNU and successfully defended her dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences. By basic education, she is a physicist, graduated with honors from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, and was a Lenin scholar. In 1974, for excellent studies and active social activities at the first All-Union Meeting of students in Moscow, she was awarded the medal "For Valiant Labor". She received scientific training at the postgraduate school of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR and successfully defended her dissertation in Moscow for the degree of Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.
All of the work of G.K. Akhmetova is connected with the university system. More than 30 years have been given to KazNU: assistant- lecturer – senior lecturer – associate professor – professor of the department – head of the department – vice–rector of the university.
The scientific interests of Professor G.K. Akhmetova are connected with the research of theoretical and methodological problems of education, theory and methodology of higher professional education, didactics of higher education, training and advanced training of teaching staff. The research results have been published in leading journals of the Republic, such as the Bulletin of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan, News of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Higher School of Kazakhstan, as well as in publications of the Russian Federation, Turkey, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Japan. Gulnas Kenzhetaevna is the author of more than 200 scientific publications.
The result of many years of research in the new direction of Kazakhstani pedagogy was the monograph “Educational Ideal in the Theory and Practice of Teacher Training” (2002), for which in 2001 G.K. Akhmetova was awarded the prize of Y. Altynsarin. For the second time she was awarded with that prize for the best scientific research in the field of pedagogy in 2017 for a series of works devoted to the problems of rural schools: “Epistemological aspects of the strategy for modernizing rural schools in Kazakhstan”, “Management of rural schools in modern socio-economic conditions of Kazakhstan”, “Innovative strategic modernization of modern rural schools in Kazakhstan" (in collaboration with K.A. Nurumzhanova).
G.K. Akhmetova is the initiator and head of research projects of international and national scale. G.K. Akhmetova was the chairman of the expert commission of the Higher Attestation Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a member of the Presidium of the Committee on Supervision and Certification in the field of Education and Science of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Gulnas Kenzhetaevna conducts a lot of public work: deputy Chairman of the Commission on Family Affairs and Gender Policy of the Akimat of Almaty, member of the political council of the Nur Otan Party (Almaty), was the chairman of the Council of Women of KazNU (2004-2010). On her initiative, the first gender education center in the republic was opened at KazNU, which conducts targeted work among students to promote family and family traditions, the formation of moral values and ideals.
For long-term and fruitful work in the field of science and education, G.K. Akhmetova was awarded the orders "Kurmet" (2004) and "Parasat" (2018), medals "For valiant Labor", "10 Years of The Constitution of The Republic Of Kazakhstan", "10 Years of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan", "10 years of Astana", badges "Honorary Worker of Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan" (2007), "For services to the development of science of the Republic of Kazakhstan" (2009). She is a scholar of the State Scientific Scholarship for Scientists and Specialists who have made an outstanding contribution to the development of science and technology in Kazakhstan (2006-2008), winner of the Azhar Women's Achievement Public Recognition Award in “The Education” nomination (2006).