Participation of foreign students in the scientific life of Al - Farabi Kazakh National University

Participation of foreign students in the scientific life of Al - Farabi Kazakh National University

Al - Farabi KazNU is the oldest university in Kazakhstan. It has 16 faculties where students and young scientists receive and improve their education in their chosen specialty. This large and friendly student family includes Kazakhstanis, representatives of near and far abroad. At Al - Farabi KazNU, students can choose the language of instruction: Kazakh, Russian or English. Many foreign students, before entering the chosen faculty, prefer to receive language training (learn Russian or Kazakh languages) at the Faculty of Pre - University Education (until 2011 "Preparatory Faculty for Foreign Citizens"). Every year, students from different countries of the world study at this faculty, for example, from China, South Korea, Turkey, Japan, the Philippines, the USA, etc. The life of foreign students studying at Al - Farabi KazNU is interesting and eventful. They not only learn languages, but also take an active part in student conferences not only in Kazakhstan, but also in other countries.
Every year in April, Al - Farabi KazNU hosts the International Conference of Students and Young Scientists "FARABI ALEMI". Such conferences motivate the younger generation to reveal their potential, attract students and young scientists to solve the scientific problems of our time.
Although at the Faculty of Pre - University Education, the main task for students is to master the chosen foreign language - Kazakh or Russian - at a sufficient level to get higher education at the university, our students also take an active part in such scientific conferences. Foreign students of our faculty conduct small scientific research under the guidance of a leading teacher in the language they are studying.
So, for holding an international student scientific conference, 3 sections were allocated, depending on the language in which the study was written: Kazakh, Russian and English. The English section was for those who chose English. Thanks to the conference, foreign students of our faculty had a wonderful opportunity to meet students from other universities in Kazakhstan and abroad, listen to reports in the language they study. After the end of the conference, the students spoke about their impressions, expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to participate in such an event.
The organizers of the conference received a lot of positive feedback about the conference from foreign students studying at the Faculty of Pre - University Education of Al - Farabi Kazakh National University. Among them is a review from a China student Arkalyk Asey: «It is a great honor to participate in this conference organized by KazNU. I was a speaker in the Kazakh language conference and an audience in the Russian language conference. Although we come from all over the world, such as from Turkey, China, Korea, Japan, Uzbekistan, the United States and etc., at this conference all students presented their topics by speak Kazakh or Russian language to get closer to each other. KazNU provides such a platform for us to communicate each other and study together, which is an incomparable experience for students from different countries and different cultural backgrounds. I hope that KazNU can has more such conferences, so that students can have more opportunities to experience the beauty of world cultural integration». Sharing impressions of the conference, Maricel Baguinit from the Philippines said that despite the fact that she started studying Russian at the faculty only 3 months ago and, naturally, could not prepare her speech in Russian, she decided to take part in the conference at English language. In a review of the last conference, Marisel wrote: «I really had a great time. I was pleasantly surprised that students from another university were there to present their own researches and I think it was a great avenue for learning as we were exposed to various topics that were shared. There was also a healthy interaction among the participants and the teachers through the question - and - answer portion after every presentation. Overall, it was an awesome experience for me. It was a time of learning by listening as well as a time of learning by presenting a sensitive topic, which still needs further research in order for it to be beneficial».
So, at our faculty of pre - university education of al - Farabi Kazakh National University, foreign students not only receive language training, but also have the opportunity to prove themselves as a scientist. We are very happy to receive such good feedback from our students and invite to study at Al - Farabi Kazakh National University.

Aitpayeva A. S., Sadenova A. Ye.
Department of Language and General Educational Training of Foreigners of the Faculty of Pre - University Education of KazNU named after al - Farabi, Kazakhstan