Since March 2023 , five UW–Madison representatives have been working with teams of administrators from six Kazakhstani universities to craft and implement proposals for reforms at their institutions in areas of university governance and financial management. This opportunity has been funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of State and administered by the American Councils for International Education’s U.S.-Kazakhstan University Partnerships Program along with UW–Madison’s International Projects Office in the International Division.
The areas for reform range from systems change to financial and HR management approaches, and diversifying revenue streams. Throughout the year, the teams have been implementing their projects with coaches available for ongoing consultation online. The goal of this program is for each team to have implemented their reform projects by January 2024
This program began with meetings on March 31–April 1, 2023 in Astana, Kazakhstan. Recently, the teams reconvened on Zoom to check-in and work through any ongoing issues and accomplishments. The project will conclude in Almaty in January 2024, where the teams will have an opportunity to share their experiences, learn best practices, and explore next steps.
The UW faculty advisor for this program is Karen Evans-Romaine, Professor of Slavic Languages in the Department of German, Nordic and Slavic+. The UW coaches are: Jennifer Kushner, Director, CALS Global; Daniel Langer, Assistant Vice Chancellor Business Services/Controller Emeritus; Felecia Lucht, Academic Director, Language Programs Office, International Division (ID); Anne Naparstek, Assistant Director, ID Language Programs Office; and Andrew Richards, former Director, Discovery 2 Product. The universities in Kazakhstan are: East Kazakhstan Technical University (Öskemen), Ualikhanov University (Kökshetau), Toraighyrov University (Pavlodar). Kazakh Agrotechnical University (Astana), Yessenov University (Aktau) and Satbayev University (Almaty).
Any questions? The program’s coordinators are Maksat Koshkarbayev (M.A., ELPA, 2019) for American Councils and Dr. Virginia Martin for the UW International Division’s International Projects Office.
