Zhanara Rakhimova, Director of the College

Aigul Orazbayeva, Head of the Department of Energy Disciplines

Karaganda Higher Polytechnic College keeps up with the times and offers educational programs for “green” economy.

Although Kazakhstan's energy system is still mainly coal-fired, the renewable energy sector is developing and becoming more visible.

By the end of 2022, according to the Ministry of Energy of the Republic, the share of RES in electricity generation reached 4.5%. In total, 12 renewable energy projects with a total capacity of 385 MW were implemented throughout the country last year, and this year they plan to introduce another 15 projects with a capacity of 276 MW. There are still many new renewable energy power plants ahead: last year it was reported that a total of 40 projects are planned to be implemented by 2025.

The stations do not work out of thin air – they need specially trained specialists (more than 3 thousand people until 2025). If earlier workers from traditional energy were retrained “in process and in practice”, now many universities and colleges in Kazakhstan have launched specialized educational programs. Karaganda Higher Polytechnic College is one of them.

The first mining college of the country

The history of the college begins in the 1930s, when development of Karaganda coal basin began, and it was the city of Karaganda that was to become the base for supply of coking coal to the metallurgical plants of Ural.

The newly created coal basin was in dire need of qualified personnel, and one of the solutions was the opening of educational institutions “on the spot". The first of them was the Karaganda Higher Polytechnic College.

However, then it had a different name and its prototype was the educational and production plant at the trust “Karaganda". It included a coal mining college, which solved the issue of training medium-technical personnel for the mines of Karaganda. For a long time, it remained the only educational institution in Kazakhstan that trained miners.

In 1936, the first graduate of the mining college was 16 people, and in 1937 130 people were already trained. The educational institution has been operating for nine decades, and during this time about 60 thousand graduates have been trained, who actualized in their profession. Many of them are successfully building careers at manufacturing enterprises, making a significant contribution to the development of the economy of Kazakhstan.

Karaganda Higher Polytechnic College today is an educational institution that annually proves its status as one of the best in its field with its achievements.

Thus, in 2020, the college became a participant in the project “Zhas Maman-2020” in four professions included in the “Atlas of new professions and competencies of Kazakhstan". At the same time, the Center for Foresight and Innovation Competencies “Zhas Maman” was created.

The educational laboratories of the center are equipped with innovative equipment of the latest generation. The main emphasis is placed on automation and digitalization of production technologies and processes, with the help of which college students can master the features of modern production.

In addition, in 2020, Creative Thinking Center was launched within the walls of the college, which is designed to form the competencies of the XXI century among students, improve the quality of education and competitiveness of college graduates in their future professional activities.

New personnel for a new industry

All this work is aimed at achieving the main goal – to give students an up-to-date education with which graduates will be in demand in the labor market. Success in this direction is clearly seen in the example of Department of “Energy Disciplines”, established in 1993.

Now it trains specialists in the field of energy and thermal power engineering in the direction of “Engineering and Practice of engineering” and the group of educational programs “Electrical Engineering and Energy". Such programs include “Electrical equipment”, “Thermal power plants of thermal power stations” and “Renewable energy".

The latter opened in 2021 according to the Atlas of New Professions. The main goal of this program is to train a new generation of specialists in the field of renewable energy in accordance with the requirements of employers and the needs of the labor market.

Together with theoretical training, it includes industrial training and professional practice. The practice is divided into educational, industrial and pre-graduate.

Educational and familiarization practice is conducted on the basis of the college to inform students of safety regulations, familiarization with the base of production facilities, where in the future they will be sent to undergo professional and industrial practices.

The terms and content of industrial training and professional practice are determined by the educational process plan and work curricula, and the evaluation of learning outcomes is confirmed by various types of control – this is both the current control of academic performance, and intermediate and final certification.

Tests and term papers are carried out at the expense of the study time allotted for the study of the module, and exams – within the time allotted for intermediate or final certification.

Most of the industrial training and professional practice are conducted on the basis of industry enterprises – these are “Karagandy Zharyk” LLP, “SES SARAN” LLP, “Nurkuat Energy” LLP and “220 VOLT” LLP, with which relevant contracts have been concluded.

Educational, introductory and locksmith-mechanical practices are conducted within the premises of college itself, in the training centers “Energopark”, “Zhas Maman”, in the workshops of the college.

The final stage of training, in accordance with the recommendations of the managers, the final certification for obtaining the qualification “3W07130501 - Operator of renewable energy equipment” is carried out in the form of qualification exams.

Training in this relevant specialty for the economy of Kazakhstan brings the Karaganda Higher Polytechnic College to the leaders in training personnel for the “green” economy. After all, the massive development of the renewable energy sector in the country is simply impossible without professional workers.

An important part of this work is the college's membership in the Association of Renewable Energy “Qazaq Green” as accredited observers. This helps the educational institution to “keep abreast” of the development of the industry and adapt to its changes.