The Department of Biotechnology and Microbiology was established in May 2011 on the basis of the Department of Biology and Biotechnology. The first head of the department was PhD, Professor Rustem Tukenovich Omarov, who headed the department until 2021. At the moment, the department is headed by Candidate of Biological Sciences, associate professor Masalimov Zhaksylyk Kayyrbekovich.
The mission of the department, as an educational and scientific unit of the university, carrying out educational and scientific activities is to train highly qualified, competitive specialists in accordance with international standards; to activate fundamental and applied research in the field of biotechnology.
The training is conducted according to the educational programs (hereinafter - ЕP): 6B05102 - "Animal Biotechnology and bioinformatics", 6B05101 - "Plant Biotechnology and Microbiology", 7M05103 – "Molecular Biotechnology and Biomedicine", 7M05104 – "General and Applied Biotechnology", 7M05105 - Biotechnology and biological safety, 8D05101 –Biotechnology.
Since September 1, 2023, admission to the innovative program has been carried out: 7M05105 "Biotechnology and biological safety", Since February 2024, undergraduate Tenelova A. Goes to study under the double degree educational program together with Baku State University of the Master's Degree in the field of training 7M05104 – General and applied Biotechnology. Since September 1, 2024, admission to the prepare PhD in the educational program «8D05101 –Biotechnology».
The Department of Biotechnology and Microbiology provides management of the entire cycle of biological and biotechnological disciplines. The teaching staff of the department consists of 29 teachers: 2 doctors of Biological and medical Sciences, 14 candidates of biological and chemical Sciences, 5 PhD, 8 Masters of Biology. All disciplines are taught by the faculty of the department in full in Kazakh, Russian and English. The contingent of students in all educational programs for the 2023-2024 academic year is 143.
The activities of the Department of Biotechnology and Microbiology are aimed at solving a set of tasks related to innovations in the system of training specialists, modernization of the educational and research base, formation of new curricula, establishing interaction with basic enterprises – consumers of specialists, professional development of teaching staff, involvement in the educational process of specialists in relevant scientific fields (including from abroad), conducting educational, scientific, research, innovative, and implementation work in priority areas in the field of biotechnology.
Among the teachers of the department there are 5 holders of the State educational grant "The Best teacher of the year", 3 holders of the International Scholarship of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Bolashak".
The Department of Biotechnology and Microbiology annually participates in the ranking of educational programs in chemistry, repeatedly winning prizes. For 2021-2022, 3rd place in the Atameken rating, in 2021, 2nd place in the IAAR rating. In 2022, according to the IAAR rating, took the 2nd place in Bachelor's specialties and the 3rd place in Master's specialties. In 2023, it took 3rd place in the Atameken rating, 2nd place in the IAAR rating for Master's and Bachelor's educational programs.
Accreditation in the ASIIN Agency (Germany) confirms compliance with quality assurance standards in the European Higher Education Area ESG and the World Federation of Medical Education WFME, is included in the European Quality Assurance Register EQAR, is recognized by the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education ENQA and the following world accreditation agencies: INQAAHE – International Network of quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education; CHEA/CIQG – International Quality Group of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation in the USA; IREG – the International Observatory for Academic Ranking and Excellence; CEENQA – the Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in the Field of Higher Education in Central and Eastern Europe; APQN – the Asia-Pacific Network for Quality Assurance, AQAAIW - the Association of Quality Assurance Agencies of Education in the Islamic World.
The following Bachelor's degree program 6B05102 - "Plant Biotechnology and Microbiology" – was accredited by the independent accreditation and rating agency ASIIN for 5 years, the Master's program 7M05103 – Molecular Biotechnology and Biomedicine for 5 years. All of the above accredited OP are included in the DEQAR register, so our graduates can continue their studies or get a job in Europe, Asia, America.
Independent agency for accreditation of educational programs KazSEE accredited educational programs 6B05102 - "Animal biotechnology and bioinformatics", master's program 7M05104" General and Applied Biotechnology " for 5 years in 2023.
One of the components of success is the high publication activity of the teaching staff. Over the past 3 years, more than 70 articles have been published in journals included in the Web of Science, Scopus databases, more than 7 professors and associate professors of the department have a Hirsch index of more than 3.
The department conducts fundamental and applied research in the following areas: oxidative stress of plants, mechanisms of RNA interference, the influence of environmental stress factors on plant development, peculiarities of growing hydrobionts in the aquaponic system, the study of salt stress in plants, fish molybdenum enzymes.
Classes are held in three languages (Russian, Kazakh, English). The incoming academic mobility of students is widely developed, so over the past 3 years, 5 citizens from Russia have been studying, and students have also studied at universities of the Republic of Belarus, France, Russia, Japan, Armenia, Romania, Poland, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Finland on outgoing mobility. Our professors have lectured at universities in Spain (University of Seville, Seville), the University of Natal in Pietersmaritzburg, South Africa. The research was carried out at the scientific centers of Ben-Gurion University at Beersheba, Israel, the Pushchinsky Scientific Center of Biotechnology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (PNC RAS), the A.N.Bach Institute of Biochemistry (Russia), the Institute of Genetics in Gatersleben (Germany), at the University of Bayreuth (Bavaria).
Classes are conducted not only by the faculty of the department, but also by invited foreign scientists Tatyana Sergeevna Todosiychuk , Dr. Timur Yunusov, Marat Saparbayev, Dos Sarbasov.
The professors of the department are members of the editorial board of the Bulletin of the Eurasian National University. Biological Sciences series.
