IV Eurasian Higher Education Leaders Forum Astana, Kazakhstan

Astana, Kazakhstan - 17th June - The IV Eurasian Higher Education Leaders Forum (EHELF) took place at Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan, June 10-12. Each year, more than 300 attendees, industry leaders, from different parts of the world participate in discussions and panel sessions at EHELF.

The theme of this year’s Forum was “Graduate Employability in the 21st Century: key competencies and modern labor market.” “Nazarbayev University took the initiative and created EHELF, a platform for discussing pressing issues in higher education in Kazakhstan as well as globally. Our Steering Committee researches and chooses the most relevant topics for the Forum each year. The topic of EHELF-2015, employability of graduates, employment and labor market, is relevant for us,” - says Shigeo Katsu, the President of Nazarbayev University. “Nazarbayev University is a unique university established in partnerships with some of the world’s best universities. And this year, we are graduating our first cohort of 446 undergraduate and graduate students. And, as the majority of our students will hit the job market, it is very important for us to understand whether our students meet the demands of industry and business, and how we should reflect these demands in our programs” – concluded Katsu.

 During the panel sessions, participants discussed the topics of employability, global skills, relationships between university, employer, and community. Again, this year, the lineup of speakers included experts in higher education. Jamil Salmi, a global tertiary education expert and economist, Shamsh Kassim-Lakha, Executive Chairman of the Board Executive Committee of University of Central Asia, and representatives of industries and various universities from 12 countries led the discussions. “This is my second time to attend EHELF,” – says Mr. Salmi, - “and what I like the most about this year’s Forum is the fact that we have so many people from industry, we are bringing closer the system of higher education and industry,” – said Salmi. “It is been very exciting to see how much of change was happening at Nazarbayev University in so little time, from our first involvement to the first graduation,” – added Matthew Hartley, Professor of University of Pennsylvania, one of the strategic partners of Nazarbayev University.

Nazarbayev University is aspiring to become a leading research university and a world class academic institution in Kazakhstan. Some of the strategic partners include Duke University Fuqua School of Business, Cambridge University, Lew Kuan Yew University of Public Policy, to name a few.

For more information visit www.ehelf.nu.edu.kz