About the project

Kazakhstan is keeping up with the times and remains aligned with contemporary educational trends. Notions such as online education and informal learning have already been integrated into the educational framework of Kazakhstani universities. In 2023, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan initiated the "Coursera – қазақ тілінде" program.

The primary objective of this initiative is to provide Kazakhstani students access to online courses offered by leading global universities, which have been translated into Kazakh and Russian languages. In 2023, EKTU was included among the 25 universities selected by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan to enable students from these institutions to access Coursera. These licenses enable EKTU students to enroll in courses from prestigious international universities on the Coursera platform at no cost and earn certificates upon course completion.

As part of this endeavor, 150 courses were translated—100 into Kazakh and 50 into Russian. Additionally, over 10,000 courses in various languages are available, with subtitles in multiple languages, including Kazakh and Russian. Enrolling in Coursera courses allows students to earn credits or partial credits for specific disciplines if the course curriculum aligns with their academic program. These images are from a meeting of regional universities with the Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the CEO of Coursera

When does the transfer of licenses take place? License transfers occur annually at the beginning of each calendar year. For the 2024 calendar year, EKTU has been allocated 350 licenses. At the start of each semester, new students are selected and given approximately three months to complete mandatory and elective courses. Following this period, licenses are reassigned to a new cohort of students. Over the course of the year, three student cohorts—spring, summer, and autumn—are trained under these licenses. Consequently, each license must accommodate the training of at least three students by year-end.

The "Coursera – қазақ тілінде" initiative offers our students a remarkable opportunity to engage with cutting-edge online courses, earn certificates at no cost, explore novel pedagogical methods, and acquire new competencies. This project enables EKTU to broaden avenues for enhancing the quality of education for its students and introduce innovative practices into the educational landscape.