The intramural stage of the 2026 Student Sports League in basketball has concluded at Kozybayev University! The strongest faculty teams competed for victory, delivering exciting and intense matches for the spectators. The PF team included five Masters of Sport and champions of the Kazakhstan Premier League, but the AF team showed great determination and won 67:55! For 3rd–4th place, FICT faced FMEN, with FICT winning 46:24. Tournament MVPs: Best Forward – Kirill Lavrenko, Master of Sport of Kazakhstan (A-24); Best Player – Ivan Grebentsov (TPP-25).

At the end of March, the World Championship in Zendokai MMA Karate was held in Astana, bringing together the strongest fighters from seven countries. More than 300 participants – from young athletes (from 8 years old) to experienced masters – demonstrated a high level of skill and true determination to win. Zendokai MMA Karate is a modern discipline that combines traditional karate with elements of mixed martial arts (MMA), a style focused on real combat. A special pride is the achievement of 7th-year medical faculty intern of Kozybayev University, Toizhan Syzdykov, who won 1st place! Studying in the General Medicine program, he successfully combines his studies with professional martial arts, holds the title of Master of Sport of Kazakhstan, and leads the Ashihara Karate Federation in the North Kazakhstan Region. On the championship tatami, Toizhan demonstrated not only excellent physical fitness, but also strategic thinking, tactical skill, and unbreakable determination. These qualities led him to a brilliant victory and a well-deserved gold medal! Our intern represented the North Kazakhstan Region, whose team won a total of five medals at the World Championship. We sincerely congratulate Toizhan Syzdykov on this outstanding achievement! We wish him continued success, new heights, strong health, confidence in his abilities, and many more bright victories ahead!

Three days filled with inspiration, discoveries, and vivid emotions flew by in the blink of an eye! A large-scale event, Open Days for school students, was held at the university. This year, more than 700 10th–11th grade students from districts of the North Kazakhstan Region participated. Future applicants eagerly immersed themselves in the student life of Kozybayev University. They were interested in all the essential information: admission rules, passing scores, scholarship opportunities, in-demand educational programs, active extracurricular life, and comfortable dormitory conditions. The event was made especially engaging by live communication: not only lecturers, but also students spoke openly, sincerely, and inspiringly about the academic programs. They presented their student organizations, creative teams, and shared personal experiences of studying at the university. Ahead of the students lie an important stage – final exams and the UNT. We wish everyone confidence, excellent results, and the fulfillment of their plans! And we look forward to welcoming new students to the walls of our beloved university!

Kozybayev University hosted a seminar for librarians from the North Kazakhstan region titled “Fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence: Creating Media Content and Modern Opportunities.” Experts from the Department of Information and Communication Technologies explained to library professionals which AI tools can assist them in their work and how to create high-quality video and audio content using AI technologies. Seminar participants learned about modern methods for automating event plans, generating ideas and texts, and more. They also received practical guidance on creating videos without filming, voiceovers (Text-to-Speech), and working with applications such as CapCut, Google AI, Studio Leonardo AI, Canva, ChatGPT, Ideogram, and Lumen5. Additionally, participants mastered principles for creating visuals for social media and websites: Generating images for posts and videos; Covers for books and events; Using AI-generated images in videos. More than 50 participants attended the seminar. At the end, all of them received corresponding certificates.

Aitys remains a true spiritual treasure of the Great Steppe and the pinnacle of the art of words for our people. We take rightful pride in it, passing its traditions from generation to generation. Our region is a golden cradle of creativity, which has gifted the country numerous historical figures who made an invaluable contribution to the spiritual development of the nation. Today, talented natives of this land continue to pass on traditions and cultural heritage to the youth, contributing to the preservation and development of spiritual values. The Republican Student Aitys “Sons of Ulytau – My Nation”, held within the walls of our university, is a vivid proof of this. This large-scale competition, aimed at reviving national art and developing the improvisational skills of young akyns, was dedicated to the 95th anniversary of the outstanding scholar, academician Manash Kozybayev, and the 75th anniversary of the honored figure of the Republic of Kazakhstan, poet and aitys performer Yermán Zhursin. The competition featured young akyns not only from our region but also from Astana, Pavlodar, Semey, Kokshetau, Kyzylorda, Kostanay, Shymkent, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Turkestan, and other cities across the country. The young participants, while maintaining respect and tact, skillfully expressed their thoughts through subtle humor and profound content. During the aitys, they addressed pressing youth issues and delivered insightful and sharp statements. The participants’ mastery was evaluated by an authoritative jury, including poet Yermán Zhursin, our university professor Zhanar Talaspaeva, Professor Almas Almatov of the Kazakh National University of Arts named after K. Baiseyitova, Kazakh cultural figure Serik Kaliyev, director of the Akmola Regional History and Local Lore Museum Kudayberli Myrzabek, and others. Their fair evaluation and wise advice served as a guide for the young talents. As a result, the winners and prize-winners were determined: — Grand Prix was awarded to guest Zarina Perdebay from Almaty; — 1st place — Eldar Amirkhan (Kyzylorda region); — 2nd place — Ayakoz Mukhankyzy (Kokshetau); — 3rd place — Ramazan Daurenbek (Pavlodar). A special prize was awarded to Dias Ayagan, representing the North Kazakhstan region. During the event, Yermán Zhursin was awarded the Manash Kozybayev Medal for his contribution to the development of the university, and Almas Almatov was honored with the title of “Honorary Professor” of Kozybayev University. Preserving and passing on spiritual heritage is our shared responsibility. Thanks to such significant events, we not only revive cultural values but also transmit them to future generations. May the centuries-old art of our people continue to flourish! We extend our gratitude to the participants and the esteemed jury members!

Kozybayev University student Dmitry Diner became the winner of the qualifying stage of the Republic of Kazakhstan Cup in қазақ күресі among adults. The competition took place in Turkestan and brought together the strongest wrestlers from across the country. Dmitry Diner, a fourth-year student of the Physical Education and Sports program, represented the North Kazakhstan Region. The athlete delivered an outstanding performance in the under 82 kg weight category and won the tournament gold. It is worth recalling that last year Dmitry became a bronze medalist at the World Cup. We wish our student great success and the achievement of new sporting heights!

For more than 20 years, our university has been hosting the regional school Olympiad in language subjects. This time, more than 370 students from 93 schools in Petropavlovsk and 11 districts of the North Kazakhstan Region gathered with us. The intellectual competition is aimed at developing the creative abilities and research interest of 10th–11th grade students who have shown a special interest in language studies, creating the necessary conditions to support gifted children, promoting scientific knowledge, increasing academic motivation, developing students’ public speaking skills, as well as providing career guidance for school graduates. Participants compete in literature, Kazakh, English, Russian, German, and French. The Olympiad is organized in two stages. First, students demonstrate their ability to express their thoughts in written form through an essay. In the second round, such types of speech activity as reading, listening, and speaking are assessed. In addition, the Olympiad serves as a discussion platform for teachers of the region to exchange experience and discuss current pedagogical issues. These topics were addressed at the seminars: “Improving Modern Foreign Language Education,” “Formation of Professional Competencies as a Condition for Training a Competitive Graduate,” and “The Content and Effectiveness of Teaching the Kazakh Language in Schools with Non-Kazakh Language Instruction.”   It has also become a good tradition within our Olympiad to hold meetings with stakeholders to present innovative methods and technologies in language teaching.

On March 31, the branded SERPIN WAY 2.0 bus set off from Petropavlovsk with the team of Kozybayev University. Over the course of 23 days, students, faculty members, staff, as well as public figures and representatives of the city career center, will travel more than 6,000 km across Kazakhstan. During this time, they will visit the Karaganda, Zhetysu, Almaty, Zhambyl, Kyzylorda, Turkestan, and Aktobe regions. The SERPIN WAY 2.0 caravan will meet with school students, their parents, and local administrations in both major cities and remote rural villages. The route from north to south has been designed to inform as many prospective students as possible about admissions, grants, academic programs, including dual-degree programs with the University of Arizona, study conditions at the university, dormitory accommodation, and student organizations. Last year, Kozybayev University implemented this initiative for the first time in Kazakhstan. As a result, around 130 students from the southern regions of the country were attracted. Now the project enters a new stage. This time, the route geography will cover 14 cities as well as 16 villages and district centers. Another large-scale objective is to give new momentum to the national “Serpin” program. Over its ten years of existence, it has become a true social elevator for thousands of young Kazakhstanis, giving young people from labor-surplus regions the opportunity to receive quality education and find employment where there is an acute shortage of specialists. Kozybayev University has been participating in the implementation of the Serpin program since 2014. During this time, more than 1,400 students have studied under it. A group of students and faculty gathered in the central campus square to see off the 24-member SERPIN WAY 2.0 team. In his online address, Ruslan Yemelbayev, Advisor to the Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, noted that this project fulfills the task of attracting prospective students to the northern part of the country, provides them with information on university admissions, and helps them choose a profession. “For the second year in a row, Kozybayev University has been implementing the unique SERPIN WAY project. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it covers the entire southern region of the country. This year, around 120 events and meetings with prospective students will be held. During the trip, more than 30 settlements will be covered. This is a wonderful opportunity for young people to receive full career guidance information, consultations on the UNT, and participation in the Serpin program,” said Ruslan Yemelbayev. The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kozybayev University, Galym Baituk, also wished the SERPIN WAY 2.0 team success in their work. The SERPIN WAY 2.0 caravan will return to Petropavlovsk on April 23. The total audience outreach is expected to exceed 600,000 people.