The year 2024 is a significant one for the higher education system of our country, as it marks the 90th anniversary of the founding of Kazakhstan's oldest university – Al-Farabi Kazakh National University! Throughout the 90-year history of the university, the military department has been a crucial component of the entire system for training highly qualified specialists.
I am proud that for over 20 years of my military and professional career, I have been working at the military department of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University. During the years of its existence, the military department has trained more than 40,000 reserve officers, who, serving in the military and government, make a valuable contribution to the development and strengthening of the independence of our state.
Back in the 1970s and 1980s, the military department of KazGU named after S. Kirov was one of the best and most advanced departments in the Soviet Union. It is noteworthy that in 1976, the Ministry of Defense of the USSR held training and methodological gatherings for military education leaders from the military districts of the Union at our military department. Many significant events took place over these years, but I would like to focus primarily on the contribution of the staff of the military department to the education and upbringing of students, as well as the preparation of reserve officers for the needs of our Kazakhstani army.
In the 1990s, during the period of establishing the independence of our state and building the Armed Forces, the military department, under the leadership of Colonel Eduard Konstantinovich Friedman, preserved the traditions of high-quality reserve officer training. Colonel Friedman was greatly supported by his deputies, Colonel Bulat Chuinbaevich Chuinbaev and Colonel Vladimir Vladimirovich Pomortsev. The training methods of the reserve officers at the military department of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University were implemented for the military departments of civilian universities throughout Kazakhstan.
In the 2000s, during the period of KazNU's development as one of the leading higher educational institutions in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, new approaches were introduced at the military department for training military-trained reserves for the Armed Forces. During this period, under the leadership of Colonel Raul Tleuovich Muzdybaev, the military department significantly increased the number of students, began training students from other universities in Almaty, and significantly updated the training and material base. Reserve officers and retired officers were also recruited to work at the department.
A significant contribution to the improvement of the educational process and material base was made by reserve Colonel Pernekhan Ashimbayevich Ermekbaev, reserve Lieutenant Colonels Viktor Sergeyevich Kovalev and Gennady Sergeyevich Isayenko. An interesting fact is that only at our military department, the only one in the country, practical driving of the infantry fighting vehicle BMP-2 during training exercises was conducted at the training and testing polygon located on the territory of KazGU city.
A new stage in the development of the military department began in 2015, when, by the order of the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Kazakhstan, experienced officer Colonel Oleg Vali-Akhmetovich Azhimov was appointed head of the department. This period is characterized by a significant increase in student enrollment. While in 1994 the department trained students in 3 military specialties, today we train students in 19 military specialties. The educational and material base is continuously improving, new classrooms are being created, and training polygons for air defense and motorized infantry forces have been established by the department's faculty and students. An interactive shooting range has essentially been rebuilt, and training complexes for preparing air defense gunners and infantry fighting vehicle drivers have been installed.
The educational process is conducted in close cooperation with the Military Institute of Ground Forces named after Sagadat Nurmagambetov, the Military Engineering Institute of Radio Electronics and Communications of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Military Police Department, and the Military Prosecutor's Office of the Almaty garrison, as well as the Branch of the Central Military Historical Museum of the Armed Forces in Almaty.
Vladimir VORONIN,
Head of the Cycle for Educational and Ideological Work
of the Military Department
