On April 4-5, the National Erasmus+ Offices in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, with the support of the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), held an online seminar on “Micro-credentials as a way to address modern challenges”. The seminar was attended by more than 200 participants from over 100 HEIs and organizations of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Opening remarks were delivered by Johannes Baur, Head of Cooperation at the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Kazakhstan, Gulzhan Jarassova, Deputy Chairperson of the Committee for Higher and Postgraduate Education of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and Rasul Abazbek uulu, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic.
Invited experts Chiara Finocchietti, Director of CIMEA-NARIC Italia, and Cristina Gitulica, General Director of the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ARACIS), shared European and global experiences on micro-credentials and addressed such pertinent topics as the development and incorporation of micro-credentials in educational programs, recognition of their results, and acknowledgment of micro-credentials by employers.
Seminar participants engaged in panel discussions; they shared their experiences in implementing micro-credentials. During the question-and-answer sessions participants posed their questions to the experts and received feedback. The seminar participants gained deeper insights into micro-credentials and were inspired by new ideas. Thus, the seminar served as a good starting point for further research and development of the micro-credentials in the Central Asian countries.
We express sincere gratitude to the Delegation of the European Union, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic for their support and assistance! We thank D. Serikbayev East Kazakhstan Technical University for the technical support of the seminar! We also thank all seminar participants for their active participation!