In a knowledge-based society, universities play a key role in preparing a new generation of human capital receptive to innovation; in these conditions, education is aimed at improving the quality of educational services and bringing them closer to world standards. In order to create continuous, advanced and open education capable of integrating into the global educational space, it is necessary to use information and communication technologies in educational activities, which characterizes the dominant trends that determine the development of the education system.

During the plenary session of the August Conference of teachers, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev stated that Kazakhstan requires fundamentally new approaches in the field of education. In a conversation with teachers, the President emphasized the importance of improving the quality of education in the country. “I take this area very seriously. We will consider all these issues in order of priority, because without knowledge, without a culture of knowledge and without science, Kazakhstan will not be able to develop further.

The use of modern technologies will allow us to quickly and effectively modernize the education system. We must develop the education sector and the development of universities in accordance with the best international standards”, the President said, speaking at the Republican Congress of Teachers

The educational space of a modern higher educational institution will be formed as an open system with an intellectually developed interface for the interaction of all participants in the pre-university, university and post-graduate educational process. The formation and support of such a space is impossible without the introduction of innovative approaches to the use of information and communication technologies.

The prospects for the development of higher education at the present stage will primarily be associated with the intellectualization and robotization of the learning process. Currently, innovative learning technologies are quite widely introduced in the education system: distance learning technologies, electronic textbooks, virtual libraries, educational portals, which are hardware and software systems designed for the effective management of the main business processes of a university, key information resources and services. These technologies have made it possible to significantly increase the efficiency of university activities and improve the quality of education.

Minister of Science and Education, Sayasat Nurbek, in his speeches, repeatedly pointed out that in order to further develop higher education, it is necessary to establish cooperation with leading foreign universities.

In light of the above, the following directions for the development of universities in the republic should be provided within the framework of the “industry 5.0” concept:

1. Development of cooperation with foreign universities advanced in the field of digitalization, IT technologies, robotics and artificial intelligence, joint development of research projects on digitalization of the education system, attraction of scientists and teachers from these universities in the training of specialists with higher education.
2. Development of the information and educational environment of digital education, which includes:

– technical resources: computers, tablets, mobile devices, networks, video systems, interactive screens;

– educational resources: software, electronic educational resources, information and educational portals, distance learning systems, electronic libraries, cloud resources, webinars , teleconferences;

– management of the educational process: distance learning, e-mail, social networks, personal account in the cloud, form of education.

3. Introduction into the educational process of modern technical teaching aids, online support services for the educational process and distance learning software.
4. Application of AI methods and models, as well as robotic teaching aids, in the educational process.

Intellectualization and robotization of the educational process of the university will improve the quality of training of specialists.

Currently, a group of scientists from the Kostanay Social-Technical University named after academician Z. Aldamzhar, under my leadership, is working on the project “Robotization of the Higher Education System”. The goal of the project is to create software intelligent teaching robots that fully provide distance learning for students without the participation of teachers in various disciplines using artificial intelligence methods and taking into account the individual characteristics and trajectories of students.

The implementation of this project in the future provides for the creation of a new type of open universities, equipped with robotic professors and robotic assistants, i.e., robotic open universities that exclude the participation of faculty in teaching students and provide high quality training for specialists with higher education.

Education at these universities will be carried out remotely and cover all regions of our republic. A student from any city, village or town who has a personal computer will master the training program in his chosen specialty online (interactively) and upon completion of training will receive the appropriate document (diploma, certificate, etc.). It is important to note that the robotization of student education will ensure high quality training, since robot professors and robot assistants will use the latest teaching technologies and the highest quality educational materials based on the use of artificial intelligence methods and tools. The knowledge base in these robots will be created on the basis of lectures and scientific and methodological works of the world’s largest scientists and teachers. Robots will fully check written work and examination tasks using established metrics and standards that will exclude bias or incompetence of teachers. Conducting control activities, i.e., taking tests and exams, will be carried out in regional educational distance learning centers that are part of the structure of the Open University. It should be noted that the creation of robot teachers is an important direction in the field of artificial intelligence and robotics. The introduction of software robot teachers in universities of our republic will lead to revolutionary changes in the field of education and will ensure high quality training in almost all forms of specialist training.

The implementation of software robots for teachers will be implemented in the form of a set of modules that provide:

– authorized access for students to educational materials and recording of their learning process;

– prompt and flexible adjustment of the logic of the training program to the relevant curricula of specialties;

– integration of the training program with the required corporate applications;

– preparation, structuring, storage and visualization of educational materials in all formats used for electronic documents;

– export and import of data in specified formats from a single database, which allows to use the same materials in different educational programs;

– prompt connection of external dynamic sources of information.

In conclusion, it should be noted that the software teaching robots could be used not only in universities, but also in schools, lyceums and colleges. The educational base in these robots will be formed in accordance with the educational programs of these institutions. These robots will find wide application in rural small schools.

The implementation of our ideas and recommendations for the robotization of learning will lead to a truly revolutionary transformation of higher education both in our country and in the global educational space. In the near future, universities with weak scientific and pedagogical potential, without a material and technical base that meets modern requirements, and with a small student population will be closed. In the future, large national universities will be transformed into robotic open universities, which will provide distance training for specialists in various in-demand professions through high-quality training for students without the participation of teachers.

By analogy with robotic enterprises that produce products without the participation of workers, robotic universities will train specialists, replacing traditional teachers with robot professors and robot assistants. These universities will produce highly qualified, competitive specialists, using modern teaching technologies, using high-quality educational materials, taking into account the individual characteristics and skills of students. Robotic open universities will provide an opportunity to obtain higher education for people who want to study at a convenient time and in a convenient place.

Baimukhamedov Malik Fayzulovich,

Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor,

Vice-Rector for Science and International

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KSTU named after Z. Aldamzhar