Kazakhstan

LOCAL SKILLS MATTER Kazakhstan

A study of good practice in the application of territorial governance tools to VET in Kazakhstan, undertaken as part of the Entrepreneurial Communities initiative.

Short description:

In 2013, as part of its work on multilevel VET governance, the ETF launched its Entrepreneurial Communities initiative to identify and acknowledge local partnerships that foster skills, entrepreneurship and job creation. The goal was to explore and learn from examples in partner countries, in order to understand how these partnerships are formed, the impact they can have on communities and how they can inform VET policy.

This report describes an entrepreneurial community based in Karaganda that provides an illustration of the voluntary mobilisation required at the local level in order for human capital development policies to be effective. In order to reach national 2050 goals for the growth and development of private sector business activity, it is necessary to improve alignment between VET service provision and the demands of local business.

The entrepreneurial community in this case has adopted what it calls the Triple-E partnership based on joined up thinking concerning Education, Entrepreneurship and Employment. The partnership consists of a local Youth Business Association, representing 60 companies, and the local Chamber of Entrepreneurs, representing over 100 000 businesses, from micro-enterprises to multinationals, as well as 26 local VET schools, including the Karaganda College of Business and Law, the Karaganda Polytechnic College and the Karaganda Business School. The community orchestrates a consultative mechanism involving business and VET providers. This has already had an important impact on the structure of VET provision, and has brought entrepreneurial learning to local VET schools and universities. Teachers also benefit from access to in-service training programmes, helping them to keep abreast of constantly evolving industry standards, while employers now play an active role in work-based learning, with 60% of training having successfully moved out of VET schools and into the workplace.

You may read the document below and see the video here.