ENGLISH PROGRAM: FIRST YEAR AT EKTU

The academic year lasted from October 2024 to May 2025. A total of 127 participants – 66 bachelor students and 61 faculty members/PhD candidates/ master’s students – successfully completed the Program, improving their English proficiency by at least one level. Unfortunately, 37 participants who had passed the initial test and were selected for the Program withdrew during the year for various reasons.

“Most of them had the Elementary or Pre-Intermediate levels. They were not yet ready for a program taught by a native speaker. Others withdrew from the Program due to a heavy academic or professional workload and scheduling conflicts. We consider this attrition to be quite natural, similar cases have occurred at all universities where we have implemented the Program. The important thing is that we provided an opportunity for those who were willing and in need to enhance their foreign language proficiency,” Aigerym Sultan, the Yessenov Foundation’s Program Manager, said.

As a reminder, the Yessenov Foundation provides the regional university that wins the republican competition to host the English Language Program with 160 spots for students each academic year. The Program is implemented at each selected educational institution for two years. 275 applications were submitted at EKTU: 120 from faculty members/PhD candidates, and 155 from undergraduate and master’s students. All applicants passed the initial test.

According to the results of the academic year, 25 participants of the English Language Program passed the IELTS exam at the Yessenov Foundation’s expense. One of them couldn’t take the exam due to personal reasons. The IELTS test was conducted by the British Council Kazakhstan. The exam was held offline at D. Serikbayev EKTU on June 7 and 8. The majority of the participants (15) received scores of 5.0 and 5.5. Five Kazakhstanis achieved scores ranging from 6.0 to 8.0.

Meanwhile, Antony Durrant, the Program instructor, expresses concern about the use of AI tools by students in completing written assignments.
“The emergence of AI has a negative impact on the development of writing skills. Unfortunately, students continue to rely on it. For example, only one student in the Elementary group submitted a truly independently written essay! All participants have made progress in speaking: most students with Elementary English proficiency are now able to maintain basic communication. Their listening comprehension has also improved significantly. The participants also performed very well on reading tasks,” shared A. Durrant.

The Yessenov Foundation’s English Language Program at East Kazakhstan Technical University is entering its second year. The application process will open in September. It is expected that, over the course of two years, approximately 300 students and faculty members at EKTU will improve their English proficiency, with around 50 of them taking the IELTS exam funded by the Foundation. In the upcoming academic year, the participants will once again be taught by Antony Durrant and Courtney Bailey, who received high praise during the first year. The classes will start in early October and conclude in May 2026.

The Academician Shakhmardan Yessenov Science and Education Foundation has been implementing the English Language Program at Kazakhstani regional educational institutions since 2013. Over more than 10 years, more than 1,500 participants have enhanced their English language proficiency through the Program, including students and faculty members from Yessenov University (formerly CSUTE named after Sh. Yessenov) in Aktau, Korkyt Ata University in Kyzylorda, Karaganda Medical University, and Kozybayev University in Petropavlovsk. D. Serikbayev East Kazakhstan Technical University (EKTU) is the fifth Kazakhstani university to host the Foundation’s Program.