NUR-SULTAN – The Bureau for Continuing Professional Development (BCPD) focuses on coming out with new digital products and has moved to a self-sustaining business model since the beginning of 2021.
Eleonora Kussembayeva
The University of the Future (UoF) that helps experienced professionals to advance their knowledge and get international certifications has become one of its major digital learning projects. The project offers international professional certification preparatory courses that aim to develop human capital and create a pool of local professionals.
The UoF boasts to have a built-in Learning Management System module with content of different durations and formats.
“Since its foundation, our company (BCPD) has gone through a variety of stages of development: from a corporate university, an operator of international certifications, to a center of excellence in the professional development industry,” said UoF Team Leader Eleonora Kussembayeva to The Astana Times.
During the five years of its operation, the bureau attracted leading international institutions in professional development to the Kazakh educational market. It also established academic cooperation with the country’s universities in joint educational programs, introduced certification programs in finance, risk management, investments, accounting, project and personnel management, Islamic finance, financial technologies, and corporate governance.
The programs and courses of the UoF are for financial sector professionals who want to develop further in their career by gaining new skills and international recognition. Along with that, the university develops intensive business training for corporate orders designed for improving business processes, building internal communications, managing employee or team motivation, developing leadership qualities among managers and leaders within the company, and conducting strategic sessions among others.
Photo credit: Bcpd.aifc.kz.
“As part of our social responsibility, from 2018 to 2020, we implemented a conditional grants program, which was based on the reimbursement of funds upon successful passing of international exams. Eight hundred forty seven specialists were selected and became the holders of this grant,” said the leader.
The UoF applies four approaches to their work such as lifelong learning, competency-based learning, individual learning planning, and professional certification. The bureau pays attention to contributing to both individuals’ and companies’ success.
“First of all, specialists get the opportunity to live up to their potential and have additional career opportunities, not to mention the fact that the concept of continuous professional development supports the competitiveness of specialists in the labor market and allows them to apply for high-paying positions,” said Kussembayeva.
The certification pool of UoF includes certifications such as Chartered Financial Analyst, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, Financial Risk Manager (FRM), the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, Project Management Professional, Corporate Governance Institute of UK and Ireland, and Association of Change Management Professionals.
UoF trainers are business practitioners who possess theoretical knowledge, holders of international certifications, managers of companies with at least 10 years of experience, representatives of international associations and institutions, as well as directors of strategic affairs, and PhD professors.
The university works according to the Claned Finnish education solution that provides an easy way to create student-centered courses. “The solution combines elements of the Finnish approach to pedagogy and intellectual analytics, making the learning process individual, fun, and understandable,” she said.
The UoF offers courses in three formats including in-class, online, and virtual classes.
Along with the UoF, BCPD has many other digital learning products such as Alpharabius, QWANT, Academy of Law, and A-Pro.
The Alpharabius project provides opportunities for schoolchildren and students to develop skills to live up to their potential in society and make informed career choices. The QWANT project is open to anyone looking to become a full-time developer, professional software engineer, architect, data engineer, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, or data scientist. A-Pro is a business consulting and Human Resources-tech solution with a built-in machine learning module.
