gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: The Kazakh Medical Academy is one of leading medical schools in the field of higher medical education in the country. It is the largest institution for education, licensing, and postgraduate training on professional and scientific skills in medicine and pharmacy. Fundamental and applied scientific research, high quality medical service of the population, as well as promotion of achievements in medicine and pharmaceutics are closely connected to the educational process. The Academy heads the Association for Medical Education of Kazakhstan.

Status quo: At all stages of development the Academy follows the concept of a traditional medical school to realize applied medical and pharmaceutical education. The transition to the actual three-cycled curriculum has been carried out successfully to offer students opportunities to become awarded with a Bachelor, Master, and/or Doctorate Degree (PhD) successively. It considers training in all medical disciplines according to the European Credit Transfer System. The Academy is the medical school in Kazakhstan which offers PhD-programmes exclusively.

The system of quality in education: To assure the quality of the educational processes «quality of given education» is the most essential criterion for the Academy for continuous awareness. In consequence, in 2007, the Academy implemented a quality management system according to the recommendations of the European Fund of Quality Management (EFQM), which meets the requirements of standard ISO 9001/2000. It is oriented on the model of quality assurance from the Dutch Association of Universities as introduced and certificated by the British company Moody International. Main estimates to assure quality are:

• Management’s policy and strategy.
• Management’s role in preparing conditions to assure the training and education of qualified medical specialists.
• The use of teachers’, employees’ and trainees’ potential to create conditions for the students to become trained and educated at high quality levels.
• The rational use of resources (material, financial, and human).
• Process’s direction of how to prepare medical specialists for high quality awareness.
• The satisfaction of employers.
• The satisfaction of teachers, employees, and trainees with their respective working conditions.
• The influence of the Academy on society.
• The results achieved in relation to the goals set for preparing specialists to improve their quality.

The future: The Academy is part of the National Medical Holding. Holding’s mission is to support a wide spectrum of medical services, to introduce the best management concepts for professional training and development of applied medical science. Its goal is to create the most modern medical school, integrated into the international community with a stable and independent financial and economical concept rendering innovative educational and medical services in correspondence with international standards of quality and safety. Also, to deliver competitive graduates – as innovative brand of Kazakhstan.

Conclusions: The efforts to implement modern curricula according to European standards have been successful. The Kazakh Medical Academy is ready for international cooperation and partnership. It will participate in the international educational programmes, seeks scientific and technical collaboration with higher educational institutions, and join medical scientific and professional organisations.