The National Education Development Programme for 2005-2010 aims to:

			Harmonise national general VET standards with the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED 1997)
			Introduce independent quality assessment of vocational education and training by establishing national and regional centres for awarding and verifying qualifications.

The existing national education development plans already include the reform of current classifiers of occupatios and related specialisations/programmes, because these classifiers no longer correspond to the realities of the labour market. This is a first step towards a National Qualifications Framework (NQF). Kazakhstan is also participating in the ETF regional project “National qualifications frameworks in Central Asia” and is undertaking a pilot NQF development programme in the sector of tourism. If an NQF becomes national policy, it may become a priority for donor support.

Quality Assurance

The National Accreditation Centre of the Republic of Kazakhstan lies within the Department of State Inspection and Monitoring of the Ministry of Education and Science. It is responsible for quality assurance.

The Republican Councils of Vocational Education Principals are registered non-governmental associations of professional schools, which aim at increasing the quality of education. They also ensure that the right of each individual to receive professional education is guaranteed, and that the requirements set in vocational standards are followed.

International Conferences on Quality Assurance

An International Conference on the Promotion of European Co-operation in Quality Assurance was held in 2004 in St Petersburg. Experts in the field of education quality assessment from Great Britain, Germany, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Finland, France and Estonia participated in this conference. The Vice-President of ENQA, Peter Williams (GB), and the general secretary of ENQA, Kimmo Hamalainen (Finland), also took part. One of the key subjects of the four-day conference was cooperation between the accredited agencies and quality assurance bodies.

The II Assembly of the Eurasian Quality Assurance Network EAQAN was held in Moscow in October 2005.  The EAQAN members representing Kazakhstan, the Republic of Kirghizia, Latvia, Russia and Estonia and the heads of the quality assessment bodies of the Republic of Byelorussia, Russia and Ukraine took part in the conference.