А meeting with representatives of leading IT companies took place at DKU

On October 6, 2021, the Kazakh-German University hosted a meeting of representatives of leading IT companies, graduates and teachers of DKU Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology.

The purpose of the event was to determine the need for personnel and improve the content of educational programs of universities in the areas of training «061 — Information and communication technologies».

The participants of the meeting were:

• lecturers of the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology: Dadaeva I.G., Savelyeva E. A., Kan V.V.
• Partners: Gubina I. (HR manager, company «Kolesa. Krisha. Market»), Kim V. (product — manager Arbuz. kz), V. Popov (CEO startup-course.com), Baimukhanova D. (HR, Aviata. kz).
• graduates: A. Nakispekov («A2data», Leading System Analyst), A. Nugmanova (Partner of IT company «Inforce»; Leading IT Consultant, business process analyst and Project Manager; Lecturer at the Faculty of Systems and Business Analysis at GeekBrains (Mail.ru)), Pak K. (Back-end developer, «Wheels.Roof.Market»).

Responsible organizers: Zhantleuova A.K., Saniyazova N. (Head of the Department of Social Work and Career).

During the meeting, the issues of program development strategy and their strengths and weaknesses, IT market requirements for future specialists, internship opportunities with the prospect of further employment, and others were touched upon.

In addition, representatives of the companies told about their vision on the topics discussed, received answers to the questions asked, noted new ideas for themselves and encouraged each other to be open to cooperation, exchange of knowledge and experience.

Also during the discussion, the following proposals were made to improve the training of IT specialists:

• establish regular work with graduates who work in the IT specialty to discuss training programs on a regular basis;
• add to the PBL curriculum;

The method of problem-based learning (Problem Based Learning, PBL) is an educational format that is practiced in universities along with traditional lectures and seminars. The purpose of the method is to teach students to independently find solutions to professional problems. The teacher sets a task for the group and gives full freedom of action, limiting himself to the role of an active observer. Students decide for themselves what information is needed to complete the task, where to get it and how to apply it.

• add cross-functional projects to the curriculum;

Cross-functional collaboration is a group of people with different functional experiences joining forces to achieve a common goal. In many cases, a team is just a group of people from different departments in a business working to solve a specific problem.

• consider the possibility of attracting more practice-oriented professionals working in the industry for courses;
• consider the possibility of introducing a Major/Minor education model (a system for students to form individual educational trajectories);
• implement a system of motivating students to gain additional knowledge and participate in programming competitions;
• conduct career orientation and explain to students what areas there are in IT, the goals of studying subjects and their applicability in practice;
• continue to apply the German experience;
• continue to work on employment assistance.

Summing up the results of the meeting, it can be noted that IT is possible to improve the situation in the training of IT personnel only through a systematic approach to solving existing problems, involving all participants of the IT market under the leadership of the state.