On December 2008 in Astana, the People's Democratic Party «Nur Otan» and the Independent Kazakh Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (IQAA) conducted a seminar on the topic «Procedures of democratization in the evaluation of the quality of higher education: accreditation and ranking». The seminar was held in the central office of the PDP «Nur Otan» and IQAA. The seminar was attended by more than 90 representatives – rectors and vice-rectors of Kazakhstani higher education institutions, responsible officials from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

In the framework of this seminar, for the first time was raised a question of evaluating the quality and enhancing the competitiveness of Kazakhstani universites. The attention of rectors from higher education institutions was pointed to new opportunities of passing independent accreditation in order to consider and protect interests of society and rights of consumers by providing them with reliable information concerning the quality of education.

The seminar was opened by the representative of the PDP «Nur Otan» in the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan, V. Dvorecky. The reports were presented by Director of the IQAA, Professor Sh. Kalanova; leader of the Students’ Alliance in Kazakhstan, E.Makashev; President of the «Miras» University, Myrzaliyev B.A.; rector of the University of International Business, Professor G.N. Gamarnik, and others.

In the course of this seminar, speakers highlighted the need for development and improvement of the system of quality assurance in higher education institutions of the Republic of Kazakhstan, accreditation and ranking of universities in accordance with the international standards.

The seminar was covered by the leading Kazakhstani media, including national channels «Khabar» and «Kazakhstan», newspapers «Kazakhstani truth» and «Egemen Kazakhstan».