On October 28, MCU and M. Auezov South Kazakhstan University (SKSU) held an experience exchange online conference.
SKSU is one of Kazakhstan’s leading universities aimed to train teaching staff for higher and postgraduate education in various spheres such as education, law, economics among others. Recently, it has targeted at executing Universities’ Third Mission which is generating knowledge to the benefit of the region’s social, cultural and economic development. As a consequence, SKSU aims to establish a Silver University to conduct training programs for the elderly.
SKSU Vice-Rectors and Heads of Departments and Centers, as well as the staff of the MCU’s International Relations Department and the Institute of Lifelong Learning, participated in the online conference.
Director of the MCU’s Institute of Lifelong Learning Marina Shalashova shared the experience of Silver University, which has reached the scale of a regional social movement, and has integrated into the “Active Ageing” project – social and educational initiative for Moscow’s pensioners. Silver University’s Project Manager Albina Naybauer elaborated on the features of education for the elderly on multiple levels. She mentioned that educational programs should be developed with consideration to the specifics of learning the course content, social and psychological traits of the elderly as well as their personal and professional experience. Silver University’s founder and supervisor Professor Alexander Levintov’s speech sparked interest with the audience. Professor gave a talk on the necessity of research consulting along with the training courses for the elderly, which ensures the development of teaching methods.
The meeting has resulted in the agreement stating that MCU will provide methodological support to SKSU’s faculty to develop and implement an educational project for the elderly.
At the conclusion of the conference, SKSU’s Vice-Rector for Academic Work Rosa Abisheva spoke about the prospects of fruitful cooperation between the universities: