Did Bang Lie to Nazarbayev?

On October 23, Dr Bang met with the President Nazarbayev, and following the meeting below given press release was issued by major news agencies and TV broadcast channels (original Russian release) announcing that KIMEP had received "international accreditation" among 2 non-US universities out of 120 total applications. No accreditation agency name was specified. It has created a lot of questions among students and local community. No official explanation regarding this has been found at KIMEP's official website. However, some people close to KIMEP officials explained that "Bang was simply misinterpreted by journalists" at the briefing after his meeting with the President of Kazakhstan in Astana on October 23. We have done our own investigation on this.
Translation of official release was as the following:

KIMEP Gets U.S. Accreditation
http://www.homestead.com/prosites-kazakhembus/102706.html

The Kazakhstan Institute of Economy, Management and Prognosis (KIMEP), the first institution in Kazakhstan to provide Western style education starting in the early 1990s, received the accreditation from a U.S. accreditation agency.

KIMEP President Chan Young

Bang, who is American, announced the news at a briefing after his meeting with the President of Kazakhstan in Astana on October 23.Bang said "more than 120 universities w

orldwide submitted their applications along with KIMEP, only 40 were approved, and of these 40 only two are outside the United States, including KIMEP."

Receiving the accreditation is a sign "Kazakhstan has reached world standards, and academic achievements of our students will be recognized in leading universities in the world," Bang added.

KIMEP has been bringing Western professors and curricula to Almaty, at a fraction of the cost of Harvard or Oxford, since 1992. With more than 600 faculty and staff and more than 4,000 students, KIMEP offers graduate and undergraduate degree programs in business, economics, finance, accounting, public administration, political science, international relations, journalism, and mass communication.

We have contacted both AACSB (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, its logo is pictured at KIMEP's official website) and New England Association of Schools and Colleges to get their explanations, and received the following reponses:

-----Original Message-----
From: Ginger O'Berry [mailto: ginger@AACSB.eduThis email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it ]
Subject: RE: accreditation status of KIMEP

Dear X:

Kazakhstan Institute of Management is a member of AACSB International. A complete list of member institutions may be found at http://www.aacsb.edu/members/educational.asp.

Membership is open to educational institutions, business organizations, foundations, professional associations, and non-profit organizations with an interest in management education. (Please see http://www.aacsb.edu/members/why.asp) for an overview of AACSB International membership.

Membership, however, does not confer AACSB accreditation and should not be interpreted as achieving accreditation. Accreditation is granted only to those institutions which have undergone a lengthy peer review process and been found to satisfy the Eligibility Procedures and Standards for Accreditation (http://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/standards.asp). A complete listing of accredited members is available at
http://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/accreditedmembers.asp.

Kind regards,
Ginger O'Berry
Accreditation Services Associate
AACSB International
777 Harbour Island Blvd.
Suite 750
Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 769-6535
(813) 769-6559 fax
ginger@aacsb.eduThis email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
www.aacsb.edu

AACSB International - The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business advances quality management education worldwide through accreditation and thought leadership.

---Original Message Follows----
From: "Brittingham, Barbara" < BBrittingham@NEASC.ORGThis email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it >
Subject: RE: KIMEP
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2006 09:04:49 -0400

Dear X,
KIMEP is not accredited by us, nor are they a candidate at this time.

Sincerely,
Barbara Brittingham
Director, Commission on Institutions of Higher Education
New England Association of Schools and Colleges
209 Burlington Road
Bedford, MA 01730-1433
Phone: 781 271 0022, ext 5447 Direct: 781 541 5447
Fax: 781 271 0950 http://www.neasc.org

Responses clearly say that KIMEP is not accredited nor a candidate for accreditation, and releases about Bang's meeting with the President could be either a mistake or an intentional and planned PR campaign to cool down the public discussion around KIMEP's mismanagement. KIMEP has announced about accreditation plans 5 years ago, but still has not applied for.

However, official website says that KIMEP has applied for accreditation (http://www.kimep.kz/accreditation.htm says "KIMEP has applied for Accreditation with permanent Accreditation Commission in the United States of America. Strategic Planning and Activities are in progress to meet the standards and criteria of that commission" ) and no explanation has been made yet by KIMEP and media regarding "misinterpretation of Bang"....

Студентам дали право контроля

Студенты становятся контролёрами собственных ВУЗов. Отныне к аттестации высших учебных заведений будет допущена учащаяся молодежь, сообщает Информбюро. В комиссию столь высокого уровня студенты включены специальном приказом министра образования.

И сегодня в Астане они рассказали как намерены инспектировать ВУЗы.
Чтобы избежать необъективных оценок и преследований со стороны руководства учебных заведений, Альянсе намерены ввести правило, согласно которому студенты одного ВУЗа будут проверять другой. Лидеры молодежной организации уверяют, что их оценки будут учитываться при вынесении окончательного решения по тому или иному ВУЗу.

http://www.31.kz/31channel/index.php?uin=1103077523&chapter=1163508906

14.11.2006 / 11:10 Молодежная организация – Альянс студентов Казахстана будет участвовать в госаттестации вузов

АСТАНА. 14 ноября. КАЗИНФОРМ /Айгуль Тулекбаева/ – В проведении государственной аттестации организаций образования, помимо Комитета по надзору и аттестации в сфере образования и науки МОН РК, примет участие Альянс студентов Казахстана (АСК), передает Казинформ.

Об этом шла речь на пресс-конференции с участием лидера АСК Алмаса Джунуспаева. Он сообщил, что весной активисты организации вышли с предложением участвовать в проверке вузов. А в июле этого года приказом министра образования и науки Бырганым Айтимовой была утверждена инструкция, согласно которой, при анкетировании и других видах опросов аттестационная комиссия будет привлекать студенческие, молодежные и общественные организации. АСК будет участвовать в анкетировании студентов, проверке условий их проживания, работы медпунктов, столовых, а также действенности студенческого самоуправления. Подобный «эксперимент» уже прошел в двух вузах Караганды и Костаная.

http://www.inform.kz/index.php?lang=rus&select=archive§ion=kazinform&y=2006&m=11&d=14#164998

Students are given control

Students are becoming controllers of their own universities - from now on students will be allowed to participate in the accreditation process by a special decree of the Ministry of Education. Today leaders of Alliance of KAzakhstan Students told us how their are going to inspect their study insitutions. In order to avoid subjective interpretation and prosecution by the administrations of their universities, leaders of this yourth organization plan to introduce a rule which would enable students from one university to inspect another university (or this could be called peer review). Students claim their opinion will be taken into consideration before any decision on any specific higher institution is taken.

Link to russian text

Many expatriate faculty deserve to be fired

interesting discussion.

well. lett me tell you my point. i believe that many foreign professors deserve to be fired. because many of them are either rubbish those who can not find jobs in their own countries, or those who want to work in exotic countries and have a asian girlfriend or those who are just spies or missionaries. tell me, who will come here for 60K usd? any decent professor from good western universities with phd will come here for no less than 100K! if this is a matter of compensation! and kimep definitely pays less than needed by market!

so its kimep's fault that there is high turnover among foreign faculty. and kimep has a wrong recruitment policy. before hiring someone, they should interview them, but not sign or discuss the contract without seeing the candidate. those who come here are usually academically weak, or pursue their own goals in this region. take anyone from foreigners, each has his own reason to come here, and teaching at kimep is their hobby, part-time activity!

kimep should pay more and attract good professionals instead of hiring rubbish from west. sorry for generalising, of course there are few exceptions!
finally its students who are end users and they should demand good and quality professors. students are paying enough to deserve good ones, and its their obligation to demand good instructors.

by the way, many local professors are good enough, better than westerners. students dont realise that "westerners" are not just better simply because they are foreigners. and finally, many "westerners" are just from bangladesh, or any other asian country, who experience difficulty to find jobs in their own countries. and thats it. students should demand administration to hire good professionals for good money, instead of allowing the admin to disburse their money for capital expenditures done by related party to kimep, i mean USKO. so students you are alone who are finally guilty of your own situation!