On 14 September 2010 the British Council ran a seminar on Exploratory Grants at South Kazakhstan State University (SKSU). The programme is part of the wider British Council INSPIRE project that aims to strengthen academic and research partnerships between the UK and Kazakhstan.

In 2008 SKSU was one of the first Kazakhstani universities to win a British Council grant for Strategic Partnerships.  It is partnering with the Manchester Metropolitan University in the field of textile and fashion design.

Professor Bishimbayev, Vice-Chancellor of South Kazakhstan State University named after M. Auezov opened the seminar stressing the importance of collaboration between SKSU and international partners like Manchester Metropolitan University as well as student’s proficiency in English language. To support this, the British Council presented the University with 20 copies of IELTS preparation kits.

About 100 people attended the event, the majority of participants were from SKSU, other universities included Academic Innovation University, South Kazakhstan State Pharmacological Academy, International Humanities and Technical University.

The British Council representatives Dilyara Woodward and Nadezhda Anisimova ran a presentation on the British Council’s INSPIRE project.

The British Council project International Strategic Partnerships in Research and Education (INSPIRE) implemented since 2008 is aimed at strengthening academic and research partnership between Kazakhstan and the UK. The first round of Strategic Partnerships grants for Kazakhstan was announced in 2008. As a result of an open selection 4 institutions received grants in 2009 and 2 partnerships are currently active. They are Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and the University of Nottingham in the area of climate change and Auezov South Kazakhstan State University and Manchester Metropolitan University in the field of textile.