Al-Farabi Kazakh National University

The Faculty of Biology is the oldest in the university, was organized since the founding of KazSU in 1934. Currently, in accordance with the conducted scientific research, modern educational programs of training specialists, is called the Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology. Today it is a major innovative scientific and educational center, where in 2 research institutes (biology and biotechnology problems and environmental problems) conduct fundamental and applied research in many areas of modern biology, ecology, biotechnology, biomedicine, sports, in which both teachers and students are involved. The faculty has 4 departments: Biodiversity and Bioresources, Biotechnology, Molecular Biology and Genetics, Biophysics and Biomedicine, as well as Bioclinic and Agrobiological Station. An important subdivision of the faculty is the Biological Museum with more than 5 thousand specimens of mass, endemic and rare species, which are unique objects of research.[4]

The Faculty of Physics and Technology is a continuation of the traditions of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, one of the first departments of the university. Today, the faculty is the center of a physics and technology cluster, which includes three research institutes.

Under the guidance of highly qualified teaching staff talented students receive fundamental education in three languages, Kazakh, Russian and English, and from early courses are actively involved in research on topical issues of modern physics and technology within the framework of established scientific schools. The faculty developed entirely new curricula that correspond to the programs of the leading universities in the world, implemented an innovative chain to accompany the development of scientific and technological research from ideas to their implementation Increasing the number of research programs, creating new courses in the most relevant areas of training specialists, expanding the material base of the faculty.[5]

The faculty of chemistry and chemical technology of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University is one of the first departments of the university, opened in 1934. The faculty occupies a separate 5-storey academic building, has two research institutes. Training is conducted in 3 (state, Russian and English) languages on the basis of 70 laboratories of 5 departments and 4 computer labs, equipped with modern equipment. Specialists are trained by highly qualified lecturers and employees of the enterprises, including 45 doctors of sciences, 85 candidates of sciences and 40 PhDs. All Bachelor's, Master's and PhD programs are accredited by ASIIN agency (Germany). The faculty trains specialists under 2-diploma programs with Belgorod University, Chinese University of Oil, Taipei University, Saitama University (Japan), D. I. Mendeleev Russian Chemical Technology University, Ufa Petroleum Technical University. Graduates take courses in Lyon-1 (France), Valencia (Spain), Poland, Romania, etc. Students of the faculty have internships at companies in the chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, and metallurgical industries, such as Karachaganak Petroleum Operating JSC, Atyrau oil refinery" LLP, "SNPS-Aktobemunaigas" JSC, "KazPhosphat" LLP, STC of "KazTransOil" JSC, "TsinKaz" LLP, "DorPlast Invest" LLP, "Zerde-Fito" LLP, etc.[6]

The Faculty of Philology and World Languages, which was founded by such outstanding personalities as M. Auezov, A. Margulan, B. Kenzhebayev, and M. Balakaev, has a great history and is rich in traditions. The faculty has six departments, five of which: Department of Kazakh Linguistics, Kazakh Literature and Theory of Literature, Russian Philology and World Literature, General Linguistics and European Languages, Foreign Philology and Translation Studies are graduating departments, which train future specialists. The Chair of Foreign Languages provides qualified training in world languages.[7]

The department has close ties with major creative unions, research institutes, where students successfully complete their research internships. The departments, institutes, and laboratories employ teachers and scientists who are well known in our country and abroad. Special attention is paid to academic mobility. Only in 2016-2017 academic year foreign professors worked at the faculty: Snodgras N. (USA), Seth Agbo (Canada), Margaret Dorline (Holland), Hancock M (USA), Anatoly Kim (Russia), Rafael Velez-Nunez (Spain), Nussier M. (France), Najie Yildiz (Turkey), Edgar Hofmann (Austria); 26 American students were trained under the Flagship program (USA).[8]

The faculty has been training journalistic personnel since 1934. For more than 84 years of its existence, the faculty has trained 16,000 qualified specialists for various types of media.[9]

Graduates of the faculty work practically in all periodicals, on television and radio, in publishing houses and foreign correspondents, in senior positions in the government, and head the editorial boards of many national and regional newspapers and magazines. During the difficult period of transition, the faculty of journalism managed not only to preserve but also to strengthen its invaluable potential: the strongest faculty and the unique training base. The faculty has highly qualified teachers, well-known scientists and media practitioners, among them 9 doctors and more than 30 candidates of science. The scientific foundation was laid by the founders of Kazakh journalism theory, such as H. Bekhozhin, T. Amandosov, T. Kozhakeev, M. Barmankulov, M. Dmitrovsky, Y. Krikunov, and others.[10]

On January 15, 2018, the Faculty of Information Technology was opened. The mission of the IT faculty is to train world-class, highly qualified specialists for the dynamically developing IT sector of the national economy. The strategic goal of the new faculty is to create a scientific and educational center that makes a significant contribution in the global and national educational space in the training of IT specialists, taking into account the needs of the modern IT market and the requirements of professional and educational standards.[11]

The Faculty of History, Archaeology and Ethnology is the center of training highly qualified specialists in national and foreign history, archaeology, ethnology, museum management and monuments protection, archival science and librarianship.[12]

In 1948, the history department was transformed into a separate department. The distinguished historians-academicians A. M. Pankratova, S. M. Pokrovsky and corresponding member of the Kazakh SSR Academy of Sciences, doctor of historical sciences, professor E. B. Bekmakhanov stood at the origins of the faculty.[13]

Today, the staff of the faculty consists of 80 people: 27 of them doctor of sciences, 40 candidates of historical sciences, 5 PhDs. To date, the training of specialists is conducted in a three-stage system: Bachelor, Master, PhD.[14]

The history of the Philosophy and Political Science faculty dates back to 1947, when the Department of Psychology and Logic was founded, and then in 1949, when the Philosophy and Economics Departments were established at KazSU named after S. M. Kirov. The organizer of the Philosophy Department was N. P. Dardikin, a graduate of the Red Professorship Institute of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party. In 1951, the Philosophy and Economics Departments were merged into the Philosophy and Economics Department, with F. A. Zherebyatiev, candidate of economic sciences, associate professor, being appointed as its head. The Philosophy and Economics Department existed until 1954 when it was closed due to the fact that the prerogative of training philosophical personnel was given only to the leading universities: the Moscow, Leningrad, and Kiev State Universities.[15]

From the early 1970s, foreign students began to study at the Department. The first were 13 students from Cuba, and then there were students from many countries in Asia and Africa. About 400 qualified specialists were trained by the Faculty for Cuba, Afghanistan, Laos, Cambodia, Burkina Faso, Mongolia, India, and Pakistan. The Faculty was the center of philosophical education in the Central Asian region, in particular, it trained personnel for the Republic of Kyrgyzstan. In 1991, the faculty was divided into the Department of Philosophy and Political Science and the Department of Economics and Sociology.[16]

The Higher School of Economics and Business is one of the oldest divisions of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University. The University Faculty of Economics was established in 1949. In 1951 by the decision of the Academic Council of Kazakh State University two previously independent faculties (economic and philosophical) were merged into a single Faculty of Philosophy and Economics. The Faculty of Economics underwent significant qualitative and quantitative changes due to the establishment of the Almaty Institute of National Economy in 1963.[17]

In 1955, the Faculty of Law was established on the basis of the Almaty Institute of Law in the state higher education institution of Kazakhstan. During its 63-year history, it has trained about 35,000 legal professionals: judges, prosecutors, law enforcement and public security officers, notaries, lawyers and jurists. Every year about 15 scientists and professors of the faculty undergo scientific training in foreign universities and research centers. Over the last 5 years scientists and teachers of the faculty have published more than 1000 scientific and educational works.[18]

Education in Oriental languages (particularly Arabic) in the walls of the university begins in the 70s of XX century. The Decree of the Government of the Kazakh SSR from May 15, 1989 on the basis of the Department of History of Asian and African countries and the Department of Arabic language was established Faculty of Oriental Studies, which is currently the largest center of the country to prepare highly qualified specialists with knowledge of Oriental languages. Specialists-orientalists were in demand by the time itself, as it was the period of the formation of independent Kazakhstan, the formation of its statehood and the establishment of official diplomatic contacts with foreign countries.[19]

The Faculty of International Relations was established in 1995 by Decree № 88 of 28.04.1995, in accordance with the decision of the Academic Council of the University and at the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The faculty is working to prepare highly qualified and competitive specialists in international relations, international law, regional studies and global economics.[20]

On the presentation of Professor Zharas Umarovich Ibrashev to the then Rector of Kazakh State University named after al-Farabi, Professor K.N. Naribayev and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan T. Suleimenov, some changes were made in the Department of General History, of which he was head. First, the specialty "History of Asia and Africa" was separated for the Faculty of Oriental Studies, then the specialty "History of the Ancient World and Middle Ages" was allocated in an independent department, followed by the formation of the Department of Modern and Contemporary History and International Relations. The Department of History of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, the specialty "History of the Ancient World and Middle Ages" was separated into an independent department, followed by the formation of the Department of New and Modern History and International Relations.[21]

The Faculty of Pre-University Education (FED) was established in 2011 on the basis of the preparatory faculty for foreign nationals, which was founded in 1985. The university has long maintained close contacts in the field of education with more than a hundred countries around the world. At present the university continues to develop and improve its international relations, it is steadily integrating into the European educational space.[22]

For years the faculty has trained more than 7000 foreigners from more than 100 countries of the world: representatives of the Kazakh Diaspora from near and far abroad countries, foreign students on the international programs of interuniversity exchange, trainees of foreign companies, embassies, the international organizations. The faculty cooperates with embassies and consulates of different countries: USA, Japan, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, South Korea, Mongolia, Spain, Turkey, People's Republic of China, Iran and others.[23]

Since 2001, the Department successfully implements two presidential programs: since 2001, more than 2000 students-representatives of the foreign Kazakh diaspora were trained to enter the universities of Kazakhstan, since 2010, more than 420 students from the IRA were trained to enter colleges and universities of Kazakhstan. Also, the faculty is preparing for comprehensive testing and unified national testing (CTA and UNT).[24]