EDUCATION AS A STRATEGIC FACTOR IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIETY

On September 1, 2022, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev addressed the nation at a joint meeting of the Chambers of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan and proposed a number of important political and economic reforms. The Address of the Head of State to the people of Kazakhstan is in line with his previous Addresses and other conceptual speeches, in which he outlined the contours of Kazakhstan's economy.

The Address of the President of the country has a unique character because it contains a specific program of measures for the systemic modernization of Kazakhstan in the conditions of a complex geopolitical situation in the world, which is changing rapidly. Undoubtedly, Kazakhstan, as part of the world community, cannot stay aloof from global processes. The President’s modernization program, which includes 5 main tasks in all sectors of the economy and social sphere, opens wide horizons for the country and is a response to new challenges and topical issues accumulated in the society. One of the priorities of the new economic course of Kazakhstan, to which the President draws his attention, is the education system. As history shows, states that have achieved rapid growth of their scientific potential began with the same thing - with the training of competitive personnel, and first of all young scientists. Our younger generation, on which the future well-being of our country will depend, should be competitive not only in Kazakhstan but also abroad. Therefore, the knowledge, skills and competencies invested in them from early childhood will have a significant result for the future prosperity of the state.

Today we need to analyze the processes and activities in the field of education, which have already been carried out, to summarize and draw conclusions about how effective the reforms were, and only on the basis of analysis, highlighting both objective and subjective factors, and the extent of their impact on the educational process, in general, begin to implement the new tasks set.

The system of higher education in Kazakhstan is undergoing positive changes related to the creation of conditions for obtaining quality and accessible knowledge. The state is building a systematic policy to support young scientists with the allocation of quotas as part of scientific grants, which certainly serves as a good incentive for our young specialists and doctoral students to carry out research activities not only in Kazakhstan but also abroad. Thus, horizontal communication with foreign partners is created on a parity basis.

In these circumstances, as the Head of State quite rightly noted, the allocation of educational grants, differentiated in size from 30 to 100%, as well as soft loans for education at 2-3%, will facilitate the access of more students to higher education, as one of the main strategic resources of development and economy, technology, business, and, above all, human capital.

As the Head of State rightly noted, during the opening of the first session of the Parliament of the seventh convocation, "High quality of human capital is the basis of long-term competitiveness of all states, including Kazakhstan. The world is moving towards a "knowledge economy", this is a reality."

Our educational sphere should be competitive, corresponding to modern trends and the requirements of the time. In this context, the President proposes those concrete measures that our country needs to take in order to keep up with technological and economic plans. In other words, we are talking about strengthening and increasing labor productivity in the field of information and communication technologies.

Kazakhstan, in a rapidly changing world, needs to build its own model of education, where the key priority of educational programs should be the formation of skills, new knowledge and readiness of students to constantly adapt to changes taking into account the digitalization of the global economic space.

In conclusion, I would like to recall the words of an American professor at Princeton University, Frederick Harbison: "A country that does not know how to develop people's knowledge and abilities and use them effectively in the economy is doomed to failure in all other endeavors." Therefore, the issue of education is not just a statement, it is a direction on the implementation of which the fate of the fulfilment of the tasks set by the Address of the Head of State depends.

Head of the Service for Educational and International Projects Zhabina Zh.R.