University history

During the Great War, Kazakhstan and the Central Asian republics faced a demand for specialized engineering personnel in the construction and building materials industries. In response, on June 19, 1943, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR issued Order No. 679, establishing the Institute of Building Materials Technology in Shymkent.

The institute was given the building of the teacher training school on Sovetskaya Street (now Kazybek Bi Street), and K. A. Delyaur, who had moved from Kharkov, was appointed to head the new institution. He contributed greatly to the opening of the institute by proving to the authorities, with convincing facts, how necessary it was to train qualified specialists for the construction industry.

In the first academic year the institute had two faculties — technology and mining — and 7 departments. It employed only 18 teachers, including 2 professors and 5 associate professors.

The nationalities of the roughly 240 students of the first year were as follows: 1 Kazakh, 108 Russians, 87 Jews, 30 Ukrainians, 1 Belarusian, 2 Uzbeks, 1 Korean, 3 Tatars and 2 Armenians.

The small number of local nationalities among the teachers and students of the new institution was due to the fact that its staff and students were mostly evacuees from Ukraine.

During the war years the institute’s staff, like other institutions, collected in-kind and cash donations for the defense fund, took part in the construction of a hydroelectric station and actively helped collective farms with seasonal work such as harvesting grain and cotton.

After K. Delyaur, Safa Umbetalin headed the institute in 1944. Paying particular attention to raising the qualifications of the teaching staff, he secured the opening of the “Silicate Technology” and “Physics” laboratories and the formation of the institute’s material base — in particular, he began construction of a dormitory for 500 students and a teaching building for 700 seats.

In 1948 the institute graduated its first 23 specialists as silicate technology engineers. Of the 29 graduates of 1950, two were sent to enterprises in Kazakhstan, three to Uzbekistan, one to Tajikistan, two to Bashkortostan, two to Armenia, six to Siberia, two to the Far East, one to central Russia and two to Ukraine. The institute’s specialists were in wide demand across the whole Union.

In 1948–1957 the institute graduated 532 specialists. In 1956 it admitted students for the first time to the specialty “Machines and Apparatus of Chemical Production”. In 1957 the specialties “Refrigerating and Compressor Machines and Units”, “Meat and Dairy Technology” and “Grain Storage and Processing Technology” were opened.

In 1957, when Arkady Vladimirovich Izmailov was director of the institute, the technological and mechanical faculties were operating.

In 1958 K. Bilyalov became head of the institution. During his short term, particular attention was paid to training specialists in the fields most needed for the republic’s economy; the institute, reorganized as the Kazakh Institute of Technology, became one of the country’s leading higher education institutions. He did much to strengthen its material base and helped secure funds for building a complex of teaching buildings.

By order of the USSR Ministry of Higher Education, an evening branch of the Kazakh Institute of Technology opened in Dzhambul in 1958 and a full-time faculty was established there in 1959. On its basis the Dzhambul Technological Institute of Light and Food Industry was later opened.

In 1959 a graduate of the institute, 30-year-old S. T. Suleimenov, was appointed rector. Sultan Tashirbayevich devoted all his strength and knowledge to developing the institution’s material base and scientific potential. During his leadership the main university building, teaching buildings “A” and “B”, 4 student dormitories, a canteen, a recreation camp in the Mashat gorge and teaching, laboratory and sports complexes were built. Under Suleimenov the institute became known as a major university: 7 faculties, 33 departments, 304 teachers, of whom 39 were candidates of sciences and associate professors, and nearly 5,000 students. Of the institute’s postgraduates, 21 defended candidate dissertations, and 2,082 graduates received an engineering qualification and worked productively in various branches of the national economy.

In 1963, by order of the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education of the Kazakh SSR, a branch of the Kazakh Institute of Technology opened in Semey and later became the Institute of Food Industry Technology. Thus the Kazakh Institute of Technology in Shymkent gave rise to two independent higher education institutions, which later grew into major centers of education.

In the 1963–1964 academic year the number of students reached 4,312, of whom 1,212 were Kazakh students, including 195 Kazakh women. Over these years the institute library’s collection grew from 7,000 to 111,457 volumes.

In 1975–1980 the institution was headed by Z. Moldakhmetov. During this period teaching building “V” was built. On the initiative of Zeinulla Moldakhmetovich, the 1st All-Union conference “Modern Machines and Apparatus of Chemical Production” was held in 1977, and in 1979 the All-Union school of theoretical chemistry was founded.

Sh. M. Moldabekov, who had risen at this institution from an ordinary assistant to teacher, associate professor, head of department and vice-rector, led it in 1980–1987. During this period 2 student dormitories, 2 residential buildings for teachers and many new facilities in the Mashat health complex were built; the institute became the university with the best social and living conditions among the republic’s universities.

Considerable success was also achieved in research. In 1980 the institute had 133 candidates of sciences but no doctors of sciences at all. Thanks to persistent work and sincere care, within 7–8 years — by 1988 — the number of candidates of sciences grew to 276 and of doctors of sciences to 13. New branch and problem research laboratories, 3 scientific-industrial teaching complexes and 7 branches at enterprises were organized, and research was closely tied to production.

In 1988–1991, when the institute was headed by M. K. Nauryzbaev, teaching and laboratory buildings “G” and “D” were commissioned, and in 1991–1997, under the leadership of T. Sh. Kalmenov, the Kazakh Chemical-Technological Institute was reorganized into the South Kazakhstan Technical University and became one of the country’s leading technical universities.

When A. I. Ainabekov was rector in 1997–1998, doctoral and postgraduate programmes were opened in colloid chemistry, non-ferrous metal technology and mechanics, and conditions were created for the best students to study free of charge at Russian universities after their second year. The scientific journal “Science and Education of South Kazakhstan” also began to appear.

In 1996, by Government Resolution No. 573 of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the institution was named the Kazakh Chemical-Technological University, and in 1998, by Government Resolution No. 256, on the basis of the merger of the South Kazakhstan Technical University and the South Kazakhstan Humanitarian University, it was reorganized into the M. Auezov South Kazakhstan State University. The South Kazakhstan Humanitarian University had arisen from the merger of the Shymkent Institute of Pedagogical Culture and the Shymkent Institute of Physical Culture. The Institute of Pedagogical Culture was headed by S. T. Temirbekov in 1967–1977 and by M. Zh. Zhunisbaev in 1977–1996, and the Shymkent Institute of Physical Culture by M. S. Saparbaev in 1990–1996.

E. U. Medeuov, appointed rector of the South Kazakhstan Humanitarian University in 1996, led the M. Auezov South Kazakhstan State University from 1998 to 2001. Paying great attention to retaining highly qualified staff, he made every effort to introduce a system of additional pay for teachers.

The new dynamic period in the university’s development is linked with the name of Valikhan Kozykeevich Bishimbaev. During the ten years of his leadership, 2001–2011, the university became one of the leaders among the country’s universities. It is no accident that in this period the university was the first among domestic universities to undergo international accreditation for seven educational programmes (and later six more). In the ranking of Kazakhstan’s multidisciplinary universities, over the last 5–6 years it consistently placed in the top five, and by the number of state educational grants won it entered the top three.

And only a large-scale personality can lead such a team. Valikhan Bishimbaev was the initiator of the introduction of a module-rating system, credit technology, and a quality management system into the educational process. According to the results of 2005, Valikhan Kozykeevich was awarded the title of "The Best Inventor of Kazakhstan". Valikhan Kozykeevich Bishimbaev - deputy of the regional maslikhat, member of the Central Office of the Nur Otan party. He was awarded high state awards: the Orders of the Badge of Honor, Kurmet and others.

The progress of students reached 90%, the number of excellent students increased to 11%. In 2002, as an experiment, the teaching of special disciplines in English was introduced in certain specialties.

In 2007, our university won 2375 grants, including 900 in technical specialties, which allowed our university to take 3rd place in the country in terms of the number of grants. The university has created educational, scientific and industrial complexes together with the leading enterprises of the region, such as JSC "Interkomshina", JSC "Shymkentcement", LLP "Kazphosphate", JSC "Petrokazakhstan", JSC "Melange", "South-West Agrarian Center". In UNPK, teaching students is fundamentally different from the currently accepted teaching principles.

In total, the university has 457 classrooms, 130 laboratory classrooms, 49 computer classes. More than 1800 computers are used in the educational process, of which 85% are new generation computers, 1540 computers are connected to the Internet.

Over 600 million tenge was spent on re-equipment and creation of a modern material and technical base by the university, of which over 300 million tenge was spent only on the purchase of the latest equipment. In the current year, a regional engineering laboratory of structural and biochemical materials is being created at the university (funding is 200 million tenge).

The most modern laboratory units for distillation of oil, determination of the fractional composition of crude oil, determination of the rheological properties of oil road bitumen that meet European standards have been purchased.

A Linguistic Center has been opened at the university, where students and teachers are trained in foreign languages.

From 2012 the university was headed by Zhumakhan Ushkempirovich Myrkhalykov. Under his leadership a new system of research management was introduced, and the number of research and educational projects being carried out grew 3.5 times. In the republican youth competition “Innovative Kazakhstan” organized by the Samruk-Kazyna National Welfare Fund, the M. Auezov SKSU was recognized as the second innovative university of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Today, the university, which has a long history, is headed by Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kozhamzharova D.A.

In the 2018-2019 academic year, 18,145 bachelors study at the university, including 13,304 full-time, 4,180 part-time and 661 part-time students. The number of students on the basis of the state educational grant for undergraduate studies is 6085 students.

About 800 students study at the college of SKSU named after M. Auezov, of which about 600 are on the basis of state educational grants, 143 out of 170 students of the preparatory course are on the basis of state educational grants.

Out of 1,182 undergraduate students, 1,038 study on state educational grants, 106 out of 133 doctoral students study on state educational grants.

Emphasis is placed on the proper implementation of the President's program "Spiritual Revival: Orientation to the Future", its popularization among students and the media. In fact, this large-scale state program, which raises the national spirit of our youth, strengthens their patriotic qualities and promotes education in the spirit of the new Kazakhstani patriotism, has much to offer. Much work is being done in this direction. Among them are "Digital Kazakhstan", "History and Culture of the Great Steppe", "Motherland", "Young Patriot", "Golden Fund", "Creation of a multimedia program for teaching the history of Kazakhstan on geoinformation technologies", "100 new names" and others. Of particular note is the launch of projects and the opening of the scientific and methodological center "Elbasytanu".

The above data shows that the rectors who headed the university in different years played a significant role in the rise of our university to such heights. Obviously, their way of life, an instructive life, will always be an example for educated and mature people.

Among the graduates who graduated from our university and conquered the horizons of knowledge, there are many well-known people in our country, veterans of their craft. Among them are Turysbekov Z., Chanov A., Abubakirov P., Sarsenov N., Seitzhanov S., Sultanov Zh., Kolesnichenko V., Zhurinov M., Kurtaev A., Musabekov E., Khasangaliyev E., Zhunusova M., N. Iskalieva, B. Sattarkhanov and others. We are very proud that our famous compatriots are graduates of our university.