BIOLOGY WON!

— We received 62 applications, then selected the 35 most worthy. With the authors of them we met in the finals in Almaty and Astana. The competition this year was marked by active participation of girls: more than half of all applications have been submitted by them. For the first in the second stage of the contest we had students of the following three universities — the Astana Medical University, Pavlodar State University named after Toraigyrov and Satbayev University. Previously the representatives of these educational institutions have never reached the final, — said the coordinator of the programs of the Foundation – Zhadyra Sarmanovа, who participated in the selection.

Among winners of this year there are six students majored in biology and medicine. They study in the Semey State Medical University, KazNMU named after Asfendiyarov, Nazarbayev University and the “Astana” Medical University. In the list of winners you can also find future physics, a chemist and also a specialist in robotics. In addition to Astana and Almaty, the winners represent such cities of Kazakhstan as Aqtobe, Shymkent, Ust-Kamenogorsk and Shar (East Kazakhstan region). The inhabitant of the latter settlement shared with us her impressions regarding the competition she won.

— I worried too much, was afraid that I’d fail. The tasks given were not complicated at all. When you find yourself among the same as you and everyone says about his or her achievements, you become flustered a bit. We worked in groups, and our group was seated at a table where another group should have conducted interviews with us. Here we began to really experience stress. But we overcame the challenge. Now I’m choosing a lab where I will do my internship. I wish it is in America. I plan to link my scientific work with problems of female infertility that is actual in Kazakhstan. IVF and surrogacy are already known to us, and I want to explore new methods, such as transplanting ovaries, — said Arailym Maykenova, a 4th year student of “Astana” Medical University.

Another unusual moment for the list of the winners was the fact that out of 10 students 7 are girls. It happened for the first time in the history of this educational program of Yessenov Foundation. Previously, most of the winners were guys.

— We did not set any special goals for the gender equality sake. It all happened naturally. From the female students we received 36 applications, 20 of them went through to the second round, there were only 15 male students among the finalists. Let’s just say that global trends here make sense only regarding the fact that girls really are more active in applying and manifesting themselves more vividly in the final, convincingly claiming their win, — commented the Manager of the Foundation – Ilzira Aldagarova.

Now for the newly minted winners, the period of visa preparation and the final determination of the placement of internship have begun. Among universities where students from Kazakhstan have already completed their internship program by the Foundation’s grant were such universities as Princeton, Harvard, Caltech, ETH and Xiamyn.