Wachsende Zusammenarbeit mit Kasachstan in der beruflichen Bildung

30 years, 30+ stories: Kazakhstan, an ambitious and growing cooperation through education

Kazakhstan, the ninth largest country in the world and the largest landlocked country, occupies a prominent position in Central Asia with its high GDP and abundant natural resources. It combines its mineral and oil wealth with a commitment to developing a robust education and labour market system. A regional leader in economic output, Kazakhstan has made strides in diversifying its economy, with a focus on developing a skilled workforce through quality education initiatives.

Since Kazakhstan's independence in 1991, the European Union (EU) has been a steadfast partner. In 2020, the European Parliament ratified the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (EPCA), signed in 2015, which elevated EU-Kazakhstan relations and paved the way for cooperation in key areas such as sustainable development, justice, education and economic growth.

With the EU as Kazakhstan's largest trade and investment partner, the partnership is underpinned by the shared goals of stability and prosperity, with a focus on renewable energy, economic diversification and regulatory approximation, benefiting both the Kazakh and European markets.

Kazakhstan benefits from extensive EU development assistance that fosters social and economic progress. Through the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR), the Instrument for Stability and Peace (IcSP) and various education programmes, including a €10 million regional flagship implemented by the ETF, the EU invests in Kazakhstan's long-term stability and regional integration. Development cooperation initiatives focus on inclusiveness, environmental safety and the strengthening of democratic institutions, with over €120 million allocated to regional support programmes.

Since 1995, the ETF has been helping Kazakhstan adapt its vocational education and training (VET) systems to the needs of a modern economy. Kazakhstan has participated in the ETF's partnership with the Torino Process and peer learning initiatives, promoting cross-border cooperation to design responsive VET policies. The ETF also supported the country's implementation of a new National Qualifications Framework (NQF) adopted in 2012, and revised four years later. The ETF's support contributes to Kazakhstan's goals of fostering an adaptable, skilled workforce and creating educational pathways for lifelong employability.

This long-standing partnership was strengthened in 2022 with the launch of DARYA, the EU's first regional project in Central Asia focused on empowering young people through inclusive education and labour market skills development – a pillar in the new EU Strategy on Central Asia.

Decades of ETF support for Kazakhstan

"DARYA has given a new impetus to the ETF's work in Kazakhstan, but several initiatives have had a strong impact even before 2022," says Christine Hemschemeier, ETF Country Liaison for Kazakhstan who was also Programme Manager for the TEMPUS programme, the 'father' of today's Erasmus, since the second half of 1990s. "Under TEMPUS, we have seen a high level of commitment from Kazakhstan's partners over the years: this has laid the foundations for future successes," she adds.

A 'success story' is precisely the process that led the ETF to help the country implement the aforementioned NQF. "We can say that the ETF was the first international partner to introduce a new approach to qualifications, and this generated a strong interest among national authorities - part of the success was the involvement and active interest of sectoral organisations," says Hemschmeier.

At an international meeting on the validation of non-formal and informal learning organised by the ETF and the Turkish Vocational Qualifications Authority in Ankara last year, Lyazat Sonayeva from Kazakhstan's National Chamber of Entrepreneurs "Atameken" described how the private sector had driven the development of a national validation network, which now has 25 centres and has issued more than 33,000 recognised qualifications over the past 10 years.

The ambitions were already clear when the government set up Kasipkor, a state-owned company that is seeking international cooperation to build state-of-the-art training centres equipped with modern training equipment. "Five Kazakh Centres of Vocational Excellence are part of the ETF Network for Excellence (ENE) - they see European Union as a source of inspiration for international networking," says Senior ETF Expert José Manuel Galvin Arribas.

The evaluation process under the Torino Process – the ETF recommended diversifying the funding streams for VET to better reflect different regional needs - was also taken very seriously by the Ministry, which used this tool to analyse the level of technical education at regional level, with the ETF team having access to the reality on the ground.

"I was impressed by the level of engagement of Kazakh stakeholders in this reality check exercise," recalls Hemschmeier.

At a follow-up meeting in 2021, Nassymzhan Ospanova, Head of the VET Department at the Kazakh Ministry of Education and Training, praised the ETF's contribution to education reforms through the Torino Process.

"The Torino Process report has had a huge impact - all the research, the data we have received, all the analysis on VET that forms the basis of our ambitious national project, Education Nation. The aim of this project is to improve the quality of VET and make it more accessible. We believe that the ETF has made a great contribution to what is really a systemic project and framework for education in our country," Ospanova said.

DARYA: a new reality with new possibilities

Kazakhstan is making progress in all three thematic areas of the EU's DARYA programme, actively engaging with its diverse network of human capital development stakeholders. Through DARYA, the country is not only strengthening its education and training systems, but also drawing on international expertise to improve the quality of learners through innovation.

One of the outstanding areas is the development of a graduate tracking methodology for VET students, designed to monitor the transition of VET graduates into the labour market and provide insights to help align training with market needs, thereby attempting to close the gap between education and employment. The ETF has also carried out analysis on a dimension that affects many young people in Kazakhstan and around the world: a study on platform work in Central Asia.

In the area of qualifications, Kazakhstan's previous engagement with the ETF has given new impetus to an existing process, which is now moving forward rapidly. "We've seen how much this process was already underway, but it has intensified under DARYA," notes the Hemschmeier. In line with this focus, the recent establishment of a National Qualifications Authority (NQA) in October 2023 is an important step forward, providing a central structure to support transparent and harmonised qualifications in line with EU standards.

"Within the framework of the DARYA project, we see great potential for strengthening and adapting elements of the qualifications system, taking into account the developments and results of this project", said first vice-minister of Labour and Social Protection of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Akmadi Sarbassov, praising qualifications system development. "This will allow Kazakhstan to integrate international standards and practices more effectively, adapting them to our specific realities".

Kazakhstan has also shown strong initiative with the SCAFFOLD tool, a practical tool for educators to support the introduction of digital, green, entrepreneurial and life competences into learning. The Kazakh authorities have co-funded related training activities, in particular involving their team of 40 trainers and 10 pilot schools, underlining the country's commitment to adopting international best practice. "Kazakhstan is keen to take up international experience and adopting EU tools such as SCAFFOLD," remarks Hemschmeier. EU Member States, in particular Latvia, play a key role in facilitating this exchange of knowledge and even more important, practice, enriching the experience for all Central Asian countries involved in DARYA.