As part of the events aimed at improving medical education in the CIS countries, "Karaganda Medical University" NCJSC hosted a renewed peer-review of international experts as part of the ERASMUS+"SPRING" program (Setting Peer Review Instruments and Goals for Medical (Health) Education). 

The experts' visit was preceded by an initial expert mission in February 2022, following which the ERASMUS+ "SPRING" project team, in collaboration with deans of schools, heads of educational programs, and structural divisions of the university, developed an activity plan to implement the recommendations of international experts to improve the training of students in the "General Medicine" and "Dentirstry" specialties.

The team of international experts for the peer-review mission was represented by Antonia Yanakieva, PhD, Professor,  Head of the Department of Health Technology Assessment at the Faculty of Public Health of the Medical University – Sofia, Bulgaria, Vidmantas Vaičiulis, Associate Professor at the Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Vilnius, Lithuania, Rustam Nazarov, Head of the International Department of Khatlon State Medical University, and Abdullozoda Saidkhodzha Murtazo, Head of the Department of Education at Avicenna Tajik State Medical University, Republic of Tajikistan.

Overall, the principles of peer review are not new for higher educational institutions of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Our university hosts regular accreditations for each educational program the provided by the national agency, however the participation in the SPRING project provides additional benefits for the university in terms of valuable practical recommendations in the academic and administrative fields made by representatives of universities from the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States and far abroad.

The head of the peer-review mission, Rustam Nazarov, highly appreciated the efforts of Karaganda Medical University's structural divisions, noting their accordance with the main provisions of the Bologna process and international criteria for recognition and accreditation of medical universities, established by the standards for ensuring the quality of higher education in the European Higher Education Area (ESG) and World Federation for Medical Education (WFME).