Within the framework of the project "Modernization of Medical Education and Science" (hereinafter referred to as the Project) six medical universities of the Republic of Kazakhstan signed 3-year memorandums with foreign universities belonging to the top 500 best. Within the framework of this project, new approaches to the selection and admission of applicants to medical universities will be introduced, educational programs of higher education and residency will be revised, including together with the Nazarbayev University medical school.

To further develop the system of independent assessment of the competencies of students and graduates of medical universities, a single national multi-stage examination based on USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Examination) system will be introduced.

At the meeting of the Scientific Council of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the results of the rating evaluation of scientific organizations and medical universities on the indicators of scientific and innovation activities in 2016 were summed up.

According to the rating evaluation, among the medical universities, the leaders of scientific and innovative activities were: Karaganda State Medical University, South Kazakhstan State Pharmaceutical Academy and Medical University of Astana.

Among the scientific organizations of the clinical profile, the highest indices in the Research Institute of Radiation Medicine and Ecology, the National Scientific Medical Center and the National Scientific Center for Surgery named afterSyzganov. Among the leading non-clinical organizations – the National Center for the Problems of Healthy Lifestyle Formation, the Kazakh Scientific Center for Quarantine and Zoonotic Diseases named after M. Aikimbayev, Scientific Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology named after H. Zhumatov.

Also within the framework of the Scientific Council of the Ministry of Health of the RK, the topics of applied scientific research in the field of public health, planned for funding in 2018-2020, were considered.