IAAR National ranking in Kazakhstan gains IREG Seal of Approval

IREG Observatory conducted audit of National ranking of higher educational institutions  of Kazakhstan qualified it to use the ”IREG Approved” seal.

At the request of the Independent Agency for Accreditation and Rating (IAAR), a member of IREG Observatory from Kazakhstan, IREG Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence has conducted an audit of the “ National ranking of higher educational institutions of the Republic of Kazakhstan” prepared and published by IAAR. After careful review, following the procedure,  the IREG Seal of Approval  Committee decided that the IAAR National Ranking of Higher Education Institutions of the Republic of Kazakhstan is qualified to use the ”IREG Approved” seal.

The purpose of the IREG Seal of Approval is to encourage national and international ranking to review, under the eyes of independent international experts, their procedures and methodology. This should contribute to the improvement of the quality of rankings.

The IAAR team first prepared a detailed self-report answering questions specified on the IREG website.  The self-report has then been reviewed by the  Audit Team composed of two independent  expert on higher education:  Dr. Krystian Szadkowski (lead), Assistant Professor, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan ( Poland), Executive Editor of journal  Science and Higher Education (“Nauka I Szkolnictwo Wyższe” in Polish), author and co-author of several articles and books on higher education published in Polish and in English; and Olga Perfilieva, former Director of the Center for International Comparative Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics in Moscow (Russia).

Members of the Audit Team made a three day on-site visit at the IAAR headquarters in Nur-Sultan, capital of Kazakhstan (previously Astana).  During the on-site visit the Audit Team members, who both speak English and Russian, met and intervened the members of the IAAR personnel responsible for preparing the National ranking of higher education of the Republic of Kazakhstan.  During the on-site visit also present was Julia Lysik, observer on behalf of IREG Secretariat.

On the basis of the self-report and the on-site visit, the Audit Team prepared a detailed report with recommendations.  The Audit Team recommended that the ranking under review to be granted the IREG Seal of Approval but made their recommendation conditional, requiring IAAR to make the presentation of the ranking and its methodology more transparent by making it easily accessible.  The IAAR fully complied with the recommendation.

The IREG Seal of Approval procedure has been conducted under the supervision of Tom Parker Senior Associate, Institute for Higher Education Policy (USA) who serves as IREG Audit Coordinator.

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