Representatives from Career Centres from Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Kazakhstan have come together in Spring 2015 to create an “Association of Career Centres of Kazakhstan and CIS HEIs”.  Although the association is still undergoing the administrative and legal procedures to be an officially recognised entity in Kazakhstan, its members have been very active disseminating information about it and recruiting new members. To date 27 HEI Career Centres have officially confirmed their membership. Information is currently available on their Facebook page.

Last May 26^th representatives from HEI Career Centres in Kazakhstan met at New Economic University named after T. Ryskulov in Almaty in order to present the new “Association of Career Centres of Kazakhstan and CIS HEIs”. The event was hosted by UNIWORK partner Career Centre from New Economic University, led by its Head Nazym Arzimbetova. Among the 50 participants present there were representatives from 30 HEIs (including UNIWORK partners Kokshetau State University named after S. Ualikhanov and Bishkek Academy of Finance and Economics in Kyrgyzstan), the State Centre for Pension Payments, the State Department of Youth Policy, British Council, Career Centre of Warwick University, as well as representatives from the business sector.

During the meeting the participants discussed important issues such as Institutionalisation of Career Centres, methods to obtain and manage the statistics on employment of graduates, reporting to the Ministry of Education and Science, and regulations on internships. Nazym Arzimbetova (NEU) and Olga Shornikova (KokSU) also gave a presentation on project UNIWORK and distributed informational materials (leaflets) to the participants.

As a result of this successful meeting, many of the participating HEIs Career Centres declared their interest in becoming a member of the Association. A Resolution of the Meeting has been prepared along with an official letter which will be sent to the Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan with an offer to institutionalise Career Centres and open one in every HEI in Kazakhstan, to update and revise current regulations on internship, to reduce the amount of reports required by MON and make an official schedule of reporting for the Ministry, to consider tools on obtaining the statics on employment.

This venture has received warm accolades from the British Council in Kazakhstan and the Director of the Career Centre of Warwick University, Sue Bennett, who was also present. She wrote to the rector of NEU, Prof. Rybinski, to congratulate him on the excellent work done by the NEU Career Centre in hosting this meeting, and stating the future importance and role that this Association can have in the future successful development of Career Centres in Kazakhstan to the benefit of the Kazakhstani economy, the labour market and the University sector.

The UNIWORK project strongly supports the creation of this new “Association of Career Centres of Kazakhstan and CIS HEIs” and the continued development of HEI Career Centres in Kazakhstan and our other partner countries in Central Asia.