Today, the National Testing Center is holding an international scientific and practical conference “20 Years of UNT: Transforming Education through Testing”.

The conference is attended by the leadership of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, heads and representatives of the world's leading companies in the field of testing - “Educational Testing Service”, ETS (USA), “AQA” (Great Britain), National Foundation For Educational Research (NFER) (Great Britain), Dutchtestologis (Netherlands), the center “TÖMER” (Turkey), Vantage Labs (USA), representatives of the Eurasian Association for Education Quality Assessment, representatives of state examination centers of Russia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Armenia and domestic scientists, specialists in the field of assessment technologies and pedagogical measurements.

The Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan Sayasat Nurbek, emphasizing the importance of the conference, noted that this is a unique project aimed at discussing creative ideas, predicting the future, as well as exchanging best practices and knowledge.

“UNT is an important part of the educational process. Today, we are faced with the task of not only maintaining the results achieved, but also striving to conquer new heights. We live in an era of new approaches to assessing knowledge and dynamic development of technologies, so it is important to meet the demands of the time and be ready for challenges," the minister said.In his speech, Director of the National Testing Center Bolatbek Abdrasilov spoke about significant achievements and important projects over the 20-year history of UNT.

“Introduced in 2004, testing radically changed the approach to assessing the knowledge of high school graduates and became the main mechanism for admission to higher educational institutions of the country. UNT is a key element of the educational system of Kazakhstan, which embodies significant changes and reforms in approaches to assessing knowledge and selecting students. Over two decades, UNT has transformed into a complex and multifaceted system based on modern technologies and scientific approaches, and has become an integral part of the educational system of Kazakhstan,” Bolatbek Serikbaevich noted.

As part of the event, the former heads of the center, who managed it since its inception, were awarded anniversary badges. In addition, during the event, memorandums were signed with representatives of examination centers in the USA, Russia, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, which are aimed at supporting and developing mutual cooperation in the field of assessment and development of education.

The conference is designed to bring together international experts in the field of educational assessment so that they can share their experiences and achievements. The focus is on improving the quality of education, introducing artificial intelligence and new technologies into educational assessment.

As part of the conference's breakout sessions, leading domestic and foreign experts presented their cases and shared unique experiences with the event participants.The conference will continue on October 31 with two important round tables. The first round table with foreign experts will discuss current challenges and opportunities in the field of education quality assessment, and the second round table will feature representatives of universities offering training programs for specialists in pedagogical measurements, discussing current challenges and prospects for training specialists in the field of testing.

gov.kz

translated by Qazalem