27 universities chosen to roll out AI-Sana program — Sayasat Nurbek
The AI-Sana program, integrating education, research, and practical application, will continue this year, Qazinform News Agency quotes Sayasat Nurbek, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as saying at a meeting of the education and science section held as part of the V Ulttyq Qurultay (National Assembly).
The program’s continuation will help universities transition from a conventional teaching format to a research-oriented approach and will support the professional development of startups through a phased process, from basic education to market expansion.
“We have been implementing the AI-Sana program since last year, and to date, 668,000 students have completed training. Under the program, all students in the country will be required to take artificial intelligence courses, which are among the strongest available. Through partnerships with companies such as Coursera, Huawei, Microsoft, and Google, we are translating their courses into Kazakh and Russian and delivering them to students. This February, the second phase of the program will begin, during which 100,000 students will study advanced artificial intelligence algorithms,” the minister said.
Universities will be able to deliver training using their own courses and award certificates of an approved standard upon completion.
“To support further rollout of the program, 27 anchor universities have been selected and approved across the country’s regions. The institutions were chosen based on criteria such as the availability of the necessary infrastructure to implement the program, including AI-related training programs, international partnerships, and sufficient computing capacity. These universities will be responsible for delivering AI-Sana training to students and faculty, as well as for implementing the project in their respective regions and neighboring areas,” Sayasat Nurbek added.
The AI-Sana program is designed to foster a supportive ecosystem for the development of artificial intelligence in Kazakhstan. Within this framework, universities have prepared nine AI agents that make up an integrated information ecosystem, offering support from admissions to the successful completion of the educational process.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that Kazakhstan’s Vice Minister of Science and Higher Education Talgat Yeshenkulov has explained which universities in the country currently host supercomputers and who can access them.