Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan and KazNU named after Al-Farabi within the framework of the V International Farabi Readings with the cooperation of the UNESCO Almaty Office conducted a Forum "Progress in applying the model of UNESCO's curricula for teaching journalism: their contribution to sustainable development".

In 2017, the Alma-Mater of Journalism Club was created by the MES of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the initiative of the Journalism Departments of the universities. For the first time, the club organized a 2-day forum within the framework of the V International Farabiyev Readings, which made it possible to identify the problems and priorities of educational programs in journalism with the participation of the United Nations, the US Embassy in Kazakhstan, the Embassy of Afghanistan in Kazakhstan, the British Council of the International Center for Journalism MediNet.

28 departments of journalism in Kazakhstan were invited to the Forum to discuss the international standard in training journalists based on the model of UNESCO. At the meeting was researched the progress of its implementation in Kazakhstan and the world, taking into account the problems, benefits, strategic priorities of the country, available initiatives and achievements. At the academic meetings, the UNESCO Almaty Office prepared a presentation - Global Trends in the field of Freedom of expression and Media Development.

In the work of the forum took part the Representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, an academic staff of the Department UNESCO in Journalism and Communication of Al-Farabi KazNU, Department of Journalism of Higher Educational Institutions of the Republic of Kazakhstan, media professionals, academic students, undergraduates and doctoral students of universities of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Mayrash Taykenova, Adviser to the Minister of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Krista Pickat, Director of the UNESCO Cluster Office Almaty, Sergey Karpov, specialist of the UNESCO Communication and Information Program in Almaty, Vlastimil Samek, Head of the United Nations Information Bureu, Mary Kay Hazel, Strategic Designer the Collaboratory Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department State, Jan Nichols, University of Pennsylvania Professor, Ren Elhay, US Embassy Press Officer, Rowan Kennedy British Council, Farkhad Haidari, Press Attache Embassy and Afghanistan.

Krista Pickkat, Director of UNESCO Almaty Bureu, in her opening speech, noted that UNESCO supports the development of the media through the development of mechanisms for self-regulation of professional standards, as well as by increasing the potential of high-quality journalism. In a personal interview, Christa Pickat also mentioned UNESCO's representative list of the intangible heritage, which includes the elements of the expression of traditions, the culture of peoples passed down from generation to generation, and it is very important to preserve and pass on to the future generation. This list includes 12 countries of the world, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and each nation has its own characteristics that must be preserved for the future generation. Also the Director of the UNESCO Cluster Office congratulated the Kazakh people on the holiday of Nauryz, wished them wealth and said that it was a really good thing that Nauryz was celebrated a month during which many events could be organized.

UNESCO contributes to raising the level of journalism and innovative curricula in universities around the world, to promote training in new thematic areas and increase the literacy of journalists. Qualitative journalistic education promotes professional and ethical practice of journalism. Such journalism is better suits for the development of democracy, dialogue and development.

The task of improving the professional skills of professional journalists is to present the facts that must be carefully considered from all relevant angles and perspectives. This requires verification of skills and an interdisciplinary approach to learning.

To solve this issue, UNESCO's Educational models on journalism offer the basis for a comprehensive education that can be adapted to specific needs. The model takes into account the social, economic, political and cultural contexts of countries highlighting the links between journalism, development and democratic discourse.

On the basis of the global consultative process, within two years the "UNESCO Model" was approved at the first World Congress on Education in the field of Journalism in 2007.

"Model curriculum" is not normative. It provides models that need to be adapted by journalism teachers to meet local needs and resources. Currently, it is adapted by 57 (fifty-seven) educational institutions in the field of journalism in 45 (forty-five) developing countries. The curriculum is available in 9 (nine) languages.

Some of the elements of the UNESCO curriculum were also included in the curricula of the journalism faculties at KazNU named after Al-Farabi. An important outcome of the meeting is the identification of priorities for the future development of journalism education in Kazakhstan and the identification of those aspects of UNESCO's model curricula that can be added to improve the quality of education provided to future journalists.

Upon completion of the opening speech, the Director of the UNESCO Cluster Office Almaty, Krista Pickkat, noted: "In this way, we can ensure that journalism can fulfill its role in the further development of democracy in Kazakhstan and promote the involvement of Kazakhstan into the most developed countries in the world."

Further, Mayrash Taykenova, Adviser to the Minister of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, thanked the al-Farabi KazNU for organizing the Forum, in particular, said that it was delightful that 29 departments of journalism have united in the Alma-Mater Club, and that the quality of journalism faculties and the quality of graduates of journalism faculties play a huge role for our society. Also, Mrs. Mayrash Taykenova stressed that first of all in the universities it is not a student but an educational service that is the product and expressed the hope that in the future we will have other meetings which will lead to great results.

Ren Elhay, a spokesman for the US Embassy, ​​said in his welcoming remarks that he believes that the best way to achieve results in this area is to make a priority on the quality of training journalists and training these people who can bring our shared values ​​to us. He further noted that he supports the policy of three- in our country and believes that a journalist who speaks three languages ​​already sees the world in a different way, that is, he can give information from sources here in Kazakhstan and not only.

In general, the Forum was held in an atmosphere of academic partnership and the following recommendations were made. The Journalism Club of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, based on 17 sustainable development goals of the United Nations and the Hub for Sustainable Development of the UN Program "Academic Influence" (UNAI), recommended the following priorities. Among them we can mention the creation of working groups on the development of the "National model of UNESCO educational programs" with the participation of the Club members; promotion of the application from the MES RK Club to the International Program for the Development of Communica Intergovernmental Council until June 1, 2018; creating a list of "100 books" on journalism in accordance with the recommendations of the Almaty Cluster Office with the translation into Kazakh.

One of the priority areas are distant courses under the journalist's program. Therefore, the development of mass online courses on the models of UNESCO educational programs from the Club on the basis of Al-Farabi KazNU will be a digital platform. The next Forum of the Club - IJF2018 will be held in Turkestan (November, 2018). The results of the Journalism Forum have become an academic platform for the Departments of journalism of higher educational institutions of the Republic of Kazakhstan, international organizations and the diplomatic corpus of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Gulmira Sultanbaeva,

Vice-president of the club Alma-Mater of Journalism