Marat Ospanov West Kazakhstan Medical University
KEEPING TRADITIONS TOWARDS NEW HORIZONS
The history of the NJSC «West Kazakhstan Marat Ospanov Medical University» (hereinafter –WKMOMU) began in 1957, when by order of the Ministry of Higher Education of the USSR, in order to provide Western and North-West Kazakhstan with qualified medical personnel, the Aktobe State Medical Institute with the specialty «General Medicine» was opened. Doctor of Medical Sciences, Academician Dairov A.B. was appointed as the first rector of the institute.
The opening of the institute marked the beginning of the development of medical education and science in Kazakhstan. The path traveled by the medical university is the formation of scientific schools known not only in the country, but also abroad; training of doctors of various specialties in demand in practical healthcare of the country, conducting fundamental scientific research.
Today, NJSC «WKMOMU» is a leading educational institution, a center of medical and clinical science in the Western region of Kazakhstan.
The university’s development strategy is aimed at implementing state policy in the field of healthcare and medical education, providing the industry with highly qualified medical personnel, improving the quality and accessibility of medical care for all segments of the population.
Thanks to constant work to improve the quality of education and the implementation of scientific research results, the University takes worthy places in the National University Rankings. In 2023, in the general ranking of the IAAR «TOP-20» of universities of the Republic of Kazakhstan, WKMOMU took 7th place. In the institutional ranking of universities of the RK-2023 in the field of «Healthcare and Social Security (Medicine) », the University’s educational programs take leading positions.
For the 2023-2024 academic years, WKMOMU implements 79 educational programs in all areas of training: 17 undergraduate programs; 46 EP residency; 13 EP master’s programs and 3 EP PhD doctoral studies.
The university has 5 educational and laboratory buildings, 5 student dormitories with 2100 places, «A. Doszhanova Conference Hall» with 700 seats, a modern scientific library. The University has 47 departments, including the military department; own clinics: Medical Center and Family Medicine Clinic with a Dental Clinic; a center for practical skills with the implementation of simulation training, a center for professional growth with the implementation of additional professional education, a scientific and practical center with scientific laboratories and a vivarium, a center for improving nursing, a center for teaching excellence.
In WKMOMU for the 2023-2024 academic years there are 644 teachers, of which 490 are full-time teachers, 154 part-time teachers. Doctors of Science, PhD doctors – 48 people (10.6%), candidates of science – 120 people (24.4%), masters – 167 people (34.0%). 168 (50.1%) of them have academic titles.
The student population for the 2023-2024 academic years is 7,200 people (5,261 are in bachelor’s programs, 1,939 students are internships, 815 – residents, 54 doctoral students, 19 are master’s students). More than 60% of students are trained on the basis of state educational grants; in addition, grants are allocated from regional akimats (city hall) for the training of medical personnel. There are 817 foreign students studying at this moment.
WKMOMU provides medical personnel to the Aktobe region and the entire region of Western Kazakhstan. The employment rate of graduates in 2023 was 97.8%; those who studied under an educational grant – 100%.
Since 2004, the scientific periodical journal «Batys Kazakhstan Medical Journal» has been published. In 2023, the scientific journal was rebranded, as a result of which the first university journal in English «West Kazakhstan Medical Journal» was created and included in the Scopus and Web of Science database and a new scientific and practical journal «Gylym Alliance», which was included in list of publications recommended by Committee for Quality Assurance in the Sphere of Education and Science of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
WKMOMU cooperates in the field of medical science, education and practical healthcare with leading foreign universities on the basis of concluded memorandums of relationship, treaties, and agreements on international cooperation, the number of which is increasing every year. An academic mobility program for students and teaching staff is being implemented.
Over the years of its existence, the university has trained more than 25 thousand young specialists in the field of higher and postgraduate medical education. University students head educational and scientific teams of many universities and research centers in Kazakhstan, and work successfully in countries near and far abroad.
