Graduate School of Public Policy and Law AlmaU: everything you wanted to know!

What educational programs are implemented by the Graduate School of Public Policy and Law (GSPPaL) of AlmaU? Are there any practical teachers? Is it possible to study for exchange abroad by enrolling in the GSPPaL? These and many other questions that are traditionally interesting to applicants on the eve of the new academic year are answered by the Dean of the GSPPaL, PhD in Economics, associate professor Dinara Tumabekova (Динара Тумабекова).

- Dinara Duisenovna (Динара Дуйсеновна), tell us more about the school

- The GSPPaL was established in 2013, under the leadership of talented supervisors, teachers and business trainers. Then it was called "School of State and Public Policy", a new name was given in 2016. The school trains specialists in the field of regional studies, state and local administration, PR and law, is a member of the Asian Association of Public Administration (AAPA).

- What are the specialties, what are the conditions for admission??

-  Applicants have a choice, at the University the Bachelor's and Master's programs are administered for 14 specialties. Humanities and social disciplines are taught in our school. There are 4 specialties: jurisprudence, regional studies, state and local administration (SaLA), public relations. The school also implements the program Double Major "Lawyer-financier" in conjunction with the Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Professional Learning "Kazan (Privolzhsky) Federal University". On the MBA program, we are implementing 3 educational programs: "Management in Education", "Management in the Public Sector" and "Management in Non-Governmental Organizations". 

- What should applicants do to apply for a grant?

From July 18 to 26 applicants should submit the application for a state grant in the Selection Committee of the University. It is important that in the application they can specify up to 4 universities and up to 4 specialties in different combinations. For example, if they apply to AlmaU, then they indicate our university first, and in accordance with the profile subjects they indicate the specialty. It is desirable to indicate both private and state universities, so that if you do not have enough points in a private university, you could pass into the state one. There is a moment that by rural quota passing score is lower, i.e. the villagers are separately given grants. Persons with disabilities also pass through quotas, i.e. they have their own competition. Grant is given only on the language of graduation, that is, who studied at the Russian-language schools - in the Russian department, at the Kazakh-language ones - in Kazakh, respectively.

- What internal grants are available in the university? Is there a rectorial Grant?

- Rector grants are awarded every year to holders of "Altyn Belgi" (Алтын Белгі), if they have winners’ diplomas of republican and international competitions and other achievements - the decision to give grants is taken individually. Everything depends on specific situation.

In addition to grants, the university provides good discounts from 20 to 50%. There is a fund of the dean of the school, every year it is approved by the administration, then money from it are used to finance the education of the grants’ and discounts’ holders.

The main criterion that we look at when granting discounts is academic achievement, the second criterion is activity, participation in various activities, and public life of the university.

Besides AlmaU has a student award "Altyn Tamga" (Алтын Тамга), which is awarded every year. The premium is a discount for education from 20 to 50%. Everyone has a chance to win, there are many nominations: "Best Undergraduate of the Year", "Sportsman of the Year", "Best Foreign Student of the Year", "Opening of the Year", "Activist of the Year", "Best Student Club of the Year", "Best Student of the Year",  "Best Volunteer Project of the Year", "The Explorer of the Year", etc.

This year the School also launched its own Olympiads for each department, for each specialty, and the winners of the prizes were awarded 20% and 50% discounts, and the winner – grant 100%.

- In which countries can a student study for exchange and two-degree programs? Which universities do you have agreements with?

- In all four specialties we have exchange programs. Our students have the opportunity to travel to countries such as Turkey, Hungary, Czech Republic (Prague), Russian Federation (Kazan). We cooperate with BPP University (London), Moscow University for the Humanities, Kazan Federal University and others. This year we want to add to this list three more universities, but much depends on the student's financial capabilities. We can provide an opportunity to study at the Sorbonne, at the SDA Bocconi School of Management (University in Milan, Italy), we closely cooperate with them. With Bocconi we want to create dual programs, for example, on the basis of a master's program. 

- Is there a two-degree program??

At the moment there is not, only the program of academic mobility. But there is, as I said, the Double Major program "Lawyer-financier", implemented jointly with the Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Professional Learning "Kazan (Privolzhsky) Federal University". And this year we plan to launch the Major-Minor program, which actually means getting a double diploma.

- What are the requirements for those wishing to go abroad for academic exchange?

- First of all, we look at the GPA. Secondly, we consider the correspondence of programs, so that the student would have a minimal difference. Thirdly, IELTS should be high, at least 5.5. This is confirmation of your level of knowledge of English for a foreign university. In this case, the availability of the IELTS certificate is desirable, but not necessary. If the student has the opportunity to go abroad, if he has a good GPA, then IELTS can be below the level of 5.5, the main thing is for the student to understand and speak English - we can send such a student.

- Is there an exchange program in the Russian language?

- Of course there is! The same Moscow University for the Humanities, St. Petersburg University, Kazan University. In these universities disciplines are taught in Russian.

If students choose a university in Western Europe or the US, of course, there all the specialties are presented in English. There is also "State and local administration", which is presented in the form of "Public administration", and "Regional studies", represented in the format of international relations, "Jurisprudence". But here you need to understand: "Jurisprudence", which is taught here - is based on cases from real life in Kazakhstan, i.e. students study Kazakh realities. And if a student goes to study jurisprudence in Germany, then the experience gained there he can use for his practice here.

- Tell us about the staff of your school? Are there any star teachers?

- Percentage of teaching staff (faculty) with academic/scientific degrees at the department is more than 60%. Last year we introduced status positions and according to them, the department includes: research teachers, practical teachers, moderator teachers, assistant teachers and mentors. We have about 30% of practical teachers - this is a very good indicator, and we plan to improve it. We have such well-known medialities as the president of the Kazakhstan Press Club Asel Karaulova (Асель Караулова), independent journalist, PR-consultant, mediator Sergey Ponomarev (Сергей Пономарев), producer-director Arman Karabaev (Арман Карабаев), PR-manager of the company "Kcell" Natalia Eskova (Наталья Еськова), publisher, general director of "Іsker Media" Oleg He (Олег Хе), director of the Center of relevant studies "Alternative", political scientist Andrei Chebotarev (Андрей Чеботарев) and others. Last year the students’ of the specialty "Public Relations" classes were held in the workplace, they received colossal experience. Now we want to introduce this system to other specialties.

For example, we plan to conduct classes on the specialty "State and local administration" together with the akimat (local council), "Regional studies" with the United Nations. On the specialty "Jurisprudence" we constantly conduct field classes: the students go to trials, to other enterprises. We are working and getting better.

- How is the training at School? Do you realize such projects as the Legal Clinic, the Multimedia Journalism Center?

- Exactly. We have the Multimedia Journalism Center "MediaLab" - an open working media space that operates on the principle of dual education. Here, under the supervision of mentors, students independently and in project teams initiate various topics and experiment with the production of their own content, study trendsetting. There is a Legal Clinic, whose purpose is to provide gratuitous legal assistance on issues of civil, administrative, family and labor legislation to socially unprotected strata of society. Clinicians are senior students of the specialty "Jurisprudence". As a result of the work of the clinic, more than 700 applications and 600 pre-trial notifications have already been prepared and sent to the court. Heads of the clinic are valid lawyers of Almaty.

- What forms of study are available at the university??

- The main form is full-time, but there is also a distance format in the specialties: state and local administration, jurisprudence and public relations. This year, if there is a good student intake, we plan to open the regional studies. 

- Do students have the opportunity to work during education?

- This opportunity does not always happen: the study schedule is very tight. The guys studied this year on a modular system. If the student works with such a schedule, the study will be overshadowed. The student must first learn, gain knowledge. But in the third year, we allow some students to earn extra money not to the detriment of their studies. There are specialties that require work experience at the end of the university, and if the student can combine study and work, the university supports this. 

- Can a student transfer to another specialty during the education?

Yes, he can. During the holiday period the student can submit an application to the dean's office. We consider it, calculate the difference, if the difference is small, he passes it and transfers to another specialty.

- Is it possible for students of other universities to transfer to AlmaU?

- Yes, but they must have a high GPA. It is required to come to us during the holiday period with a transcript so that we can evaluate academic performance. We welcome the students; we try not to deny anyone. As long as the conditions are right for the student.

- Can a student transfer from AlmaU to a foreign university??

- Yes, he can. The problem is that the trajectory of education does not always coincide. For example, in a foreign university there is a large component of professional disciplines, and the student has passed them insufficiently. This is due to the fact that in our curricula there are other proportions. We have compulsory disciplines, a university component, which is absent in many foreign universities. They have more basic, professional disciplines, management unit. But this problem is always solved, if the foreign university is ready to accept the student with this difference.

- What is a credit system?

- This is the system that we switched to when we joined the Bologna Process and the transition to credit technology. Credits are the numbers of hours that disciplines are consist of. One credit is 15 academic hours, 1 hour - 50 minutes. Depending on how many credits, so many times per week, the student meets with the teacher. 1 hour - a lecture, 2 hours - lecture and practice, 3 hours - lecture, practice and IWWT (independent work of the student with the teacher). The advantage of the credit system is that it is possible to master the program in accordance with its capabilities.

This year the concept of 4-year education was removed at all. I mean the idea that you need to master the entire curriculum for 4 years. There are 147 credits for some specialty, and the student can study it for 10 years. But this is possible only if the university has autonomy, a special status. In Kazakhstan, the decision to grant autonomy to Kazakh universities was taken quite recently - in June this year. Preparations for the functioning of universities in the conditions of autonomy are now being conducted. As soon as we begin the process of autonomization, we will determine the maximum and minimum number of credits for the transition to the next stage of education ourselves.

• What will that do?

If a child does not have the opportunity to undergo a full program for financial, mental and other reasons, he can reduce the number of credits according to his abilities and close a full-fledged summer semester of studying or extend his education for several years. Besides the student himself chooses those disciplines that he wants to study. It means that in the third or fourth year, when specialized subjects start, he has the opportunity to take a subject from other specialties, this is similar to the Minor system. Either there is a choice of elective disciplines, depending on what the student wants. The credit system allows you to do this.

• But are there compulsory disciplines?

Of course, there are. Despite the autonomy, we work on the requirements of the Ministry of Education and Science, we issue state diplomas, in this regard, we need to include the mandatory components, such as physical education, the history of Kazakhstan, philosophy, sociology, etc. Without studying these disciplines, one cannot obtain a state diploma. There are compulsory components of the university, subjects that we believe the student must obligatorily pass through, and there are additional components that the student himself can choose. This is not to mention the state exams, the defense of the thesis work or project and industrial practice. Thanks to credit technology, there is a simplification of the system of netting of disciplines, when a student travels abroad on an exchange or two-degree program. There is a choice of credits, then a re-discipline - this facilitates the transfer. Our system is similar to the American system; it differs from the European one only in that they have more credits.

In fact, the credit system provides the right to choose, the student can choose both the teacher and the subject. At the end of spring, students choose subjects, and final registration for disciplines is in August.

- In which companies do our graduates work?

- As last year showed, 90% of our graduates were employed in their specialty.

Our guys work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in private and international companies. It was a great pleasure for us that the students were able to find employment in the Kazakhstan Institute of Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, despite a strict competition.

Graduates-lawyers work in a law firm, they practice in the prosecutor's office, and most often remain there as full-time employees. This year we hope for fruitful cooperation in this respect with the UN. 

- Thank you for the interview!