ASTANA. On April 24 the Executive Board of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan (EB IFAS) completed a Roundtable on presentation of the professional standards for water management and other specialties of the Agro-industrial complex of Kazakhstan with the support of CAREC-USAID project “Smart Waters”.
The event was organized as a part of the process of analyzing the labor market’s needs in modern specialists, harmonizing state standards for the education of water professionals under the specialty "Water Resources and Water Use" and reforming the existing education system.
The overall goal of the whole process is to assist in strengthening the education and training of qualified specialists as a contribution to the implementation of the SDG 4 "Quality Education" for the interests of future generations. The purpose of this roundtable was to present the developed professional standards of the Agro-industrial complex and the sectoral qualification framework "Water Economy" to the attention of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) of the Republic of Kazakhstan, namely:
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Presentation and discussion of the draft professional standard "Water supply, water disposal and protection of water resources";
- Presentation and discussion of the draft professional standard "Hydrotechnical Renovation";
- Discussion of 12 agro-industrial professional standards developed within the framework of the World Bank and the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population (MLSP) of the Republic of Kazakhstan’ project "KZ skills and jobs project", which created the framework for this process.
"We will assess the significance of this process in the future after the project is completed, and its results are achieved,” - noted Murat Beysenov, Head of the Department for Operation and Development of Water Management Facilities of the Committee of Water Resources (CWR) of the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan, “We feel a shortage of qualified personnel, and today it is challenging to find a replacement for the old-generation water specialists, the training base is weakened. Therefore, the importance of our common work within this process of harmonizing the education system for future generations cannot be overemphasized.“
Along with the developers, IFAS ED in Kazakhstan, representatives of state bodies - committees of water resources, forestry and fisheries of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the RK, CAREC workers 'and employers' associations took part in the meeting.
Based on the results of the roundtable, it was decided to deliver the final drafts of the professional standards with experts’ opinions to the MoA and the sectoral commissions. The developed PS will be transferred to the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan for passing through the mandatory state procedures on approval and introduction in the training process for water management and other specialties of the Agro-industrial complex of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In the course of the discussion, special attention will be paid to the reasons for the low level of training of specialists in higher education institutions, how they are taken into account in professional standards, and what requirements will be placed on the knowledge, skills and competencies of graduates. In future, the approved professional standards will serve as a basis for the development of educational programs and curricula of universities.