The Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Korea to the Republic of Korea discussed new areas of cooperation.

The agenda of the working meeting is to strengthen the relationship between the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan and universities, scientific institutes of Korea, as well as the opening of a branch of Woosong University in the Turkestan region.

Welcoming the guests, Sayasat Nurbek expressed gratitude for the visit and noted that the department attaches great importance to the development of Kazakh-Korean cooperation in the field of science and higher education. The minister presented the reforms carried out by the Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in the field of higher education, and also presented the project and dwelled in detail on the opening of branches of foreign universities and the possibilities of the Bolashak program.

“Korea is actually a great example of a middle power. Korean universities have made significant progress in recent decades, especially KAIST - Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. We would like to expand the list of Korean universities for cooperation; for this purpose, we have launched a fellowship program. In addition, there is an international scholarship “Bolashak”, under which we send our researchers to leading higher education institutions in the world. We will need your support in working with several Korean institutes and laboratories,” noted S. Nurbek.
Representatives of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the Republic of Kazakhstan highly appreciated the work carried out by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the internationalization of higher education.The Ambassador also expressed his full readiness to strengthen ties between Kazakh and Korean universities.

“We are interested in cooperation in the field of education. Education is a very important investment for the development of a country. In Korea we call it investing for the next 100 years. That is why education is a very important area for us, and in our country it is a priority for parents. We have many universities, the number of students applying for higher education is decreasing. This is due to declining demographics. Therefore, attracting foreign students expands opportunities. Our cooperation with you is going in the right direction. The opening of the SeoulTech Higher School of Artificial Intelligence in Kyzylorda, as well as the signing of a memorandum between Baitursynuly University and Dong-Eui on training personnel for the automotive industry, indicates the interest of Kazakhstani youth in Korean education,” emphasized Jo Tae-ik.

During the meeting, special attention was paid to the creation of a branch of Woosong University. The parties also discussed the prospects for cooperation with strong industrial corporations Hyundai and Kia for Kazakh students to undergo internships at the factories themselves.