College of Social Sciences

International Research and Graduate Students Collaboration

Preamble

The College of Social Sciences is very interested in collaborating with partner institution on research and graduate studies to doctoral level. To facilitate this, we have developed three research centers within the College, each closely associated with a postgraduate program. Working with our collaborating partners, these centers will give us an opportunity:

• to build institutional networks that facilitate the linking of regional specialist scholars and junior faculty in Central Asia with scholars of international repute in their fields;
• to develop and submit proposals for infrastructural and project-based funding for research and graduate programs;
• to conduct joint research projects;
• to arrange international seminars and conferences;
• to facilitate faculty exchanges;
• to support collaborating partners’ graduate, post-doctoral and advanced research on, or relevant to, Central Asia;
• to support the development of the research and pedagogical knowledge and skills of the regional network members by offering graduate-level training in social sciences research and teaching; and
• to develop and deliver:
  • joint (articulated), dual (double), or even franchised graduate degree programs within the social sciences;
  • graduate study abroad opportunities with full credit transfer;
  • graduate internship opportunities with full credit transfer;
  • masters- and doctoral-level courses, offered under the auspices of KIMEP’s International Summer Program, subsumable within our existing masters degrees programs;
  • e-learning objects and the blended learning provision of graduate courses (modules); and
  • specialist KIMEP certificate programs in conjunction with academics from partner institutions, under the auspices of KIMEP’s International Summer Program.

The Central Asian Studies Center

KIMEP has created the Central Asian Studies Center (CASC) as a KIMEP-wide initiative that links its diverse pockets of research and graduate teaching interests on Central Asia – related to the social sciences, law, business, and culture and language – with the regional socio-political, economic, cultural and public policy imperatives. Its aim is to become a regional hub for academic and graduate research on Central Asia that will build research and graduate teaching expertise on the region and facilitate international research projects. This will develop the interdisciplinary research and graduate teaching capacity in Central Asian Studies through innovative research and graduate-level programs (including Summer Schools, Summer Internships, and graduate research).

The European Studies Center

KIMEP has created the European Studies Center (ESC) within the College of Social Sciences as a KIMEP-wide initiative that link the diverse pockets of research and graduate teaching interests on Europe and the European Union (EU) – as related to the social sciences, law, business, and culture and language – with the regional socio-political, economic and cultural imperatives. Its aim is to develop the interdisciplinary research and graduate teaching capacity in European Studies with a Eurasian perspective, so as to strengthen bilateral relationships between Europe and Central Asia, through innovative research, graduate and public educational programs. This initiative is informed by the European Commission’s (EC’s) stated intention, under its 2007 Central Asia partnership strategy, of supporting one or more European Studies Institutes within the region, as part of its decision to increase substantially its funding between 2009 and 2013 of higher education activities in Central Asia.

The Central Asian Center for Media and Society

KIMEP has created the Central Asian Center for Media and Society (CACMS). It will develop, investigate and promote the emergent new media in Central Asia, with particular attention being paid to the ways that it is influenced by, and influences, social life. By building on extant local and international partnerships, it will amplify available resources and expertise, and act as a hub for a range of projects that brings together academics across an array of disciplines. It will support graduate education in journalism at international standards, especially through joint Master’s degree programs. It will serve as local contact and coordinator for technical improvements, such as the EU-funded CAREN network, which promises to connect Central Asian universities to one another and to the academic world, through state-of-the-art broadband internet connections. Finally, it will offer training in new media with state-of-the-art research, teaching, and collaborative facilities that support a variety of operations, such as online education and networks. The CACMS project will draw on a large number of active collaborative relationships with nonprofit, academic, governmental, and commercial organizations.

Funding Sources

External funding will be sought from the EU and elsewhere. Bids will be prepared, in conjunction with our collaborating partners, for infrastructure and specific-project funding from one or more of the following funding sources:

• CENTRAL ASIA EDUCATION INITIATIVE supporting:
  • European Studies Institutes.
  • Central Asia Policy Think Tank
• ERASMUS MUNDUS Actions:
  • Action One (especially for joint Master’s and Doctoral Programs),
  • Action Two (especially scholarships for mobility), and
  • Action Three (programs related to the Bologna Process).
• TEMPUS Action for Joint Projects (institutional transfer on know-how, curricula development), with the possibility of applying for:
  • Structural Measures Action (institutional reform, links to society, conferences, training, dissemination of information), or
  • Accompanying Measures Action (thematic conferences and activities aimed at spreading good practice)
• JEAN MONNET PROGRAM, supporting:
  • European Teaching Modules (Courses)
  • European Information and Research Activities,
  • Jean Monnet Chairs in European Studies;
  • Centres of Excellence in European Studies
• USAID
• FULBRIGHT PROGRAM
  • Fulbright Senior
  • Fulbright Specialist
• CAREC INSTITUTE
• BRITISH COUNCIL
  • INSPIRE Program
• OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE
  • International Higher Education Support Program: Central Asia Research and Training Initiative
  • Academic Fellowship Program
  • Regional Seminar for Excellence in Teaching (ReSET)
  • Central Eurasia Project, which supports projects in the following programmatic areas:

• Human Rights
• Labor Migration
• Electricity and Hydropower Transparency
• Social and Economic Rights
• Uzbekistan
• Turkmenistan

• INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS, supporting the development of educational programs in International Humanitarian Law:
  • Faculty development
  • Curriculum development
  • Workshop and conference support
• KNIGHT FOUNDATION GRANT (with US partner support)
• VOLKSWAGAN FOUNDATION (with German partner support)
• CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP

Next Step

Any institution or individual interested in collaborating with us on matters of research and graduate studies in the field and areas identified should, in the first instance, contact:

Dean’s Office:
Dr. Bhuiyan Shahjahan, PhD
Acting Dean/Associate Professor
bhuiyan@kimep.kz
Hall 4, Valikhanov Building
Tel.: +7 (727) 270-43-49       (ext. 3274)
Fax: +7 (727) 270-43-44

Aigul Bekzhanova, Executive Assistant to the Dean
Email: aigulb@kimep.kz
Tel.: +7 (727) 270 42 46       ext. 3007
Hall 4 / Valikhanov building

At masters level, each of our four programs — Economics, International Relations, Public Administration and International Journalism – have been completely revised and are now in accord with the requirements of the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) framework.

This will be achieved by connecting KIMEP to the EU funded e-Silk Highway (CAREN), which would link it to EU academic e-networks and through them to the rest of the academic world. This will enable KIMEP faculty and graduates, and those of other universities in Central Asia, to participate in modern forms of life-long learning.

On 31 May 2007 a policy paper was issues by the Council of the European Union - The EU and Central Asia: Strategy for a New Partnership (10113/07) that provides a framework for the development an EU-funded assistance program for Central Asia between 2007 and 2013. The EU plans to double the financial means for assisting Central Asia states to Є750 million over this period, averaging Є139 million per year.

The CAREN projects seeks to installs a high speed terrestrial broadband network connecting students and researchers in Central Asia with their counterparts within the EU, at a cost of some € 5 million between 2009 and 2011.