EUROPEAN ACCREDITATION AGENCY’S VIEW ON KAZAKHSTAN’S ENGINEERING AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HIGHER EDUCATION

Authors

  • Andreas Ahrens Hochschule Wismar
  • Martin Foerster Accreditation Agency for Study Programs in Engineering, Informatics, Natural Sciences and Mathematics
  • Jelena Zascerinska Centre for Education and Innovation Research
  • Iring Wasser Accreditation Agency for Study Programs in Engineering, Informatics, Natural Sciences and Mathematics

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17770/sie2020vol1.4861

Keywords:

accreditation agency view, engineering and Information Technology, expert perspective, higher education, needs analysis, non-structured interview, opinion

Abstract

In the era of digital economy, there is an urgent need in highly qualified engineering and Information Technology (IT) specialists in Kazakhstan. The aim of the research is to analyse the needs of higher education in the field of engineering and IT in Kazakhstan underpinning elaboration of implications for higher education in the field of engineering and IT in Kazakhstan. The empirical study was carried out in October 2019. Exploratory study was implemented. Interpretive paradigm was employed in the present work. Non-structured interview served as the basis for data collection. Content analysis was performed for data analysis. Findings of theoretical analysis allow extending three-component model on needs analysis, namely experts’ perspective, educators’ perspective, and students’ perspective by the fourth component, namely community perspective. Implications for higher education in Kazakhstan are formulated as following: universities delivering higher education in the field of engineering and IT in Kazakhstan need to balance academic and practical components in their study programmes; interaction between educators and students, on the one side, as well as enterprises, companies and industry, on the other side, should be enhanced in higher education in the field of engineering and IT in Kazakhstan. Directions of future work are proposed.

 

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Author Biographies

  • Andreas Ahrens, Hochschule Wismar
    Prof. Andreas Ahrens is Academic Director of the distance-learning programs “Data and Electrical Engineering” as well as “Information Technology and Management” at Wismar University (HSW).Prof. Andreas Ahrens is also responsible for the coordination and academic supervision of the accreditation (e.g. ASIIN)) of different distance-learning programs in engineering education. He is actively involved in distance and on-line teaching at Wismar University (HSW). He has received an extensive experience in leading, coordinating and managing international projects within Erasmus+, BMBF, DFG, DAAD and other programmes. Within the different projects led by Prof. Ahrens, he received substantial Industry experience through cooperation with such global players as Keysight AG and Deutsche Telekom.Prof. Andreas Ahrens was bestowed expert rights- in the field of telecommunications by Latvian Council of Science (Riga, Latvia) in 2012-2019 as well as- by National Science Centre (Krakow, Poland) since 2017.Prof. Andreas Ahrens is a member of international research teams working on the development of engineering education at tertiary level. He is a member of Publication Committee in a couple of journals such as "International Journal of Technology and Engineering Education", and he is the Program Chair in different conferences.
  • Martin Foerster, Accreditation Agency for Study Programs in Engineering, Informatics, Natural Sciences and Mathematics
    Dr. Martin Foerster works for ASIIN as a project manager since 2016, taking over responsibility for the ASIIN International Affairs in 2017. He is profoundly experienced in the management of quality management procedures as well as project for the development of Standards and Criteria in the field of Quality Assurance. As secretary general of EQANIE (European Quality Assurance Network for Informatics Education) he participated in the Horizon 2020 TeSLA project (running from 2015-2019) managed by the Open University Catalunya; for ASIIN he has participated in a variety of international consulting projects, among others the Erasmus+ PEESA III project (2017-2020) led by the Wismar University of Applied Sciences.
  • Jelena Zascerinska, Centre for Education and Innovation Research
    Jeļena Zaščerinska received the diploma in Russian Philology in 1994 from the Daugavpils University, Daugavpils, Latvia, Master Degree in English Philology in 2002 from the University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia. In 2011 she was awarded Dr. paed. Degree for her promotion thesis “Development of Students’ Communicative Competence in English studies for Academic Purposes” focused on the evaluation of efficiency of the process of the development of students’ communicative competence within English for Academic Purposes studies. In January 2012 she became a leading researcher at the Centre for Education and Innovation Research, Riga, Latvia. In 2012 Jeļena Zaščerinska was bestowed expert rights by the Latvian Council of Science, Riga, Latvia and by Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, Brussels, Belgium. In 2012 Jeļena Zaščerinska was awarded a research grant for young scientists from the German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Academischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD) for the research project “Latvia’s Perspective in the Tempus Project ECDEAST: A Model-Driven Comparative Analysis of Engineering Curricula” implemented at Hochschule Wismar, University of Applied Sciences, Technology, Business and Design, Wismar, Germany, duration: 1 June – 30 November 2012. In 2012 Jeļena Zaščerinska was awarded a research grant for post-doctoral researchers from the „Triple I - Integration, Interaction and Institutions” of the ERASMUS MUNDUS Action 2-Strand 1 of the European Community Mobility Programme for the research project “English for Academic Purposes Studies: A Model Driven Comparative Analysis via Mixed Method Approach in Latvia and Russia” implemented at the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, Kaliningrad, Russia, duration: December 1, 2012 – September 30, 2013. In 2013 Jeļena Zaščerinska was awarded a research grant for research stays for university academics and scientists from the German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Academischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD) for the research project “Educating the Engineer 2013: Advance 21st Century Innovation in Engineering Curriculum” implemented at Hochschule Wismar, University of Applied Sciences, Technology, Business and Design, Wismar, Germany, duration: 1-31 January 2014. The major results of joint research activities were reflected in a number of publications and international conferences. In December 2013 Jeļena Zaščerinska was bestowed expert rights by Horizon 2020 – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, the European Commission, Brussels, Belgium. In June 2013 she was appointed as the Editorial Board Member and Reviewer, International Journal of Modern Education Forum (IJMEF). Dr. Jeļena Zaščerinska is a member of the international research team which carried out an extensive research on integration of the results of interdisciplinary research into higher education and presented the research results in a number of joint publications. Her main field of research interest comprises cognitive linguistics, linguistic semantics and pragmatics, entrepreneurship education, teacher education as well as interdisciplinary (linguistic and engineering) research.
  • Iring Wasser, Accreditation Agency for Study Programs in Engineering, Informatics, Natural Sciences and Mathematics
    Dr. Wasser has been Managing Director of ASIIN e.V. since 2001, and of ASIIN Consult GmbH since the foundation in January 2008. She is President of the Central and Eastern European Accreditation Network CEENQA and the European Alliance for Subject-Specific and Professional Accreditors (EASPA). Dr. Wasser was the Chairman of ENAEE (European Network for the Accreditation of Engineering Education) and the Vice-President of EQANIE (European Network for the Accreditation of Informatics Education). She has managed numerous EU-financed projects in the field of quality assurance and higher education enhancement. She has provided her expertise in numerous international consulting projects in the field of QA and accreditation.

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Published

2020-05-20

How to Cite

Ahrens, A., Foerster, M., Zascerinska, J., & Wasser, I. (2020). EUROPEAN ACCREDITATION AGENCY’S VIEW ON KAZAKHSTAN’S ENGINEERING AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HIGHER EDUCATION. SOCIETY. INTEGRATION. EDUCATION. Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference, 1, 15-25. https://doi.org/10.17770/sie2020vol1.4861