**Acknowledgements**

*Education, Human Rights and Peace in Sustainable Development*

develop critical thinking.

regulating and evaluating the HEIs' activities.

expenditures to finance education.

tive internal evaluation.

a decent work.

**4. Conclusions**

would facilitate the adaptation of program content to the needs of the labor market

The primary standards and parameters of the Bologna Process adopted at the national and the institutional levels in Kazakhstan encounter a problem of their real implementation. First of all, the reformation should consider the level of socioeconomic development of the country, the conditions to develop the local labor market, and the living standard of the population. It may take some time to change the mindset, develop skills, and teach the universities' staff to be responsible in developing educational programs that comply with international standards and in

The internal QA system of Kazakhstani HEIs should focus on the adoption of the experience of European HEIs to create mechanisms for continuous, comprehensive, and transparent assessment. The current practice to conduct an accelerated and chaotic assessment under the preparation for accreditation creates stress for all the HEI employees and suspends all its activities. An analysis of the QA systems of European universities has revealed that using the best practices of the European national and institutional QA systems can be a solution to the education quality in Kazakhstan. In the meantime, it should be borne in mind that Kazakhstan has completely different starting conditions for modernization than European countries. This paper argues that educational reforms successful in European countries are still ineffective in Kazakhstan due to the lower level of socioeconomic development of the country, a quality culture and quality of life, and insufficient budget

Currently, Kazakhstani HEIs need the support of the state and the QA agencies to create a mechanism of an ongoing, comprehensive, and transparent self-evaluation that helps to improve the university and educational programs and does not imply a race for a place in ratings, in creation incentives for an effective and objec-

Kazakhstan, it is necessary that government expenditures on education, the welfare level of the population, and the life quality and socioeconomic development of the country also comply with international standards, so that Kazakhstanis can choose a HEI that provides quality education, be able to pay for quality education, and get

Based on the survey results, the University of International Relations has a high percentage of graduates' employability and trains competitive graduates. Despite the fact that there're no gender differences in the cognitive abilities of male and female graduates and the employability percentage is almost the same for both women and men, women are more vulnerable, cannot compete in the labor market, and are employed in less paid sectors. Women are fewer among those who start and run their business. The low competitiveness of the female labor force in the labor market is primarily associated with their childcare and chore obligations, which

For the successful implementation of the best European practices in

To be competitive, the HEIs' graduates currently should be able to solve issues in different fields of expertise. In this regard, interdisciplinary education is relevant for the HEIs. Educational programs including interdisciplinary courses in the field of entrepreneurship or project management can develop business and projects' development skills. Interdisciplinary courses in the gender economics can increase awareness of socioeconomic processes in society, instill a culture of equality, and

and the elimination of the gap between the labor market and education.

**50**

I would like to express my special thanks to adjunct professor of University of Eastern Finland Heimo Mikkola for the scientific guidance, technical assistance, and moral support. I am very grateful to Erasmus+ program and European team of the project "Implementation of Education Quality Assurance System via Cooperation of University-Business-Government in Higher Education Institutions" for the great opportunity to go through experts training on QA in higher education.
