College Mission Statement
We seek to promote understanding about society, its structure, its relationship to both the state and the marketplace, and the means by which information is disseminated throughout society. We seek to accomplish this by:
- developing graduates who are independent and highly qualified critical thinkers, who will become the future leaders of the public and private sectors, especially news media, in a new Kazakhstan;
- conducting and disseminating applied and academic research for the betterment of Kazakhstan and Central Asia more generally; and
- contributing through our graduates to the securing of the foundations for democratic government, strong civil society, good laws and fair law enforcement in the region.
Academically, our goals are:
- to develop and disseminate knowledge of diversified human economic, social and political experience relevant to Kazakhstan and Central Asia more generally; and
- to enable graduates to think analytically and critically about past and present human experience at the individual, group national and global level;
- to ensure that graduates have the values, the basic analytical knowledge and techniques, and the employment-relevant and problem-solving skills they need to be able to address both the anticipated and the unknown challenges that lie ahead in the twenty-first century.
To achieve these goals, the College must become a world-class social science school that is the school of preference for students wishing to embark on an English-language education that will prepare them for a career in an international setting or for further graduate education abroad (see CSS Strategic Plan: 2010/11–2012/13). Thus, its vision is that its students will undertake programs of study at all levels that have been judged by the international academic community to be of a standard that makes their transition to further study abroad seamless. Thus, we have, and are working towards having more international student exchanges (see CSS International Student Exchange Policy) and more dual and joint graduate degree programs, initially at the graduate level, with world-class universities (see CSS International Research and Graduate Studies Collaboration)[1]. A by-product of this will be the enhanced local and international status of both the College and KIMEP.
The College will realize its vision only by:
- developing graduates who:
- are independent and highly qualified critical thinkers;
- are well prepared for graduate social sciences study in English; and
- can become the future leaders of the public and private sectors;
- conducting and disseminating applied and academic research for the betterment of Kazakhstan and Central Asia; and
- contributing, through its graduates, to the securing of the foundations for good global, regional and national governance, democratic government, strong civil society, a competitive and equitable marketplace.
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[1] The College has currently dual degrees with the University of Glasgow (International Masters in Russian, Central and Eastern European Studies) and Humboldt University (Masters in Economics and Management).
