KHALEL DOSMUKHAMEDOV ATYRAU UNIVERSITY

 

The idea of establishing a higher education institution in the city of Guryev (present-day Atyrau) emerged even before the outbreak of the Second World War. The growing demand for qualified teachers in the region's schools and educational institutions made the creation of a local institute of higher education an urgent necessity.

At that time, Guryev had no higher education institution other than the Pedagogical College, which had been established in 1929 to train primary school teachers. As the number of general education schools in the region increased year by year, the supply of highly qualified teaching professionals remained insufficient. Graduates from universities across Kazakhstan and neighbouring republics were unable to meet the region's growing educational needs.

To address this issue, on 13 October 1939, the Council of People's Commissars of the Kazakh SSR adopted Resolution No. 720, authorising the establishment of a two-year Teachers' Institute in Guryev. In accordance with this resolution and the academic programmes approved by the Council of People's Commissars and the People's Commissariat of Education of the Kazakh SSR, the Guryev Regional Executive Committee adopted Resolution No. 13 on 20 May 1940, officially establishing the institute. The resolution provided for the admission of 120 first-year students, and the institute officially commenced its educational activities on 1 September 1940.

Under the approved plan, the newly established institute was allocated the building of the city's Pedagogical College, while the college was relocated to the former V. I. Lenin Primary School building. The Regional Executive Committee was also responsible for providing accommodation for 120 students.

At the same time, the Council of People's Commissars of the Kazakh SSR was petitioned to include the construction of a new academic building and a 500-bed student residence in the 1941 development plan. In addition, the director of KazakhKitap, Alekseyev, was instructed to supply the institute's library with textbooks, teaching aids, and academic literature.

The Head of the Regional Department of Education, I. Serzhanov, was entrusted with overseeing all preparatory and organisational work for the institute's opening. His responsibilities included organising preparatory courses from 1 June 1940, ensuring the enrolment of the planned 120 students, recruiting academic staff, and equipping the institute with textbooks, teaching materials, and educational equipment. He was also instructed to appoint the institute's director and deputy director for academic and research affairs and submit their appointments for approval to the People's Commissariat of Education of the Kazakh SSR and the Committee for Higher Education under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.

The first director of the Guryev State Teachers' Institute was Abdi Boshynuly Tursynbayev, who later became a distinguished historian, Professor, and Honoured Scientist of the Kazakh SSR.

The institute officially opened on 1 September 1940.

Address:
1 Moscow Street, Guryev (present-day Atyrau), Kazakhstan.

However, only one year after its establishment, the institute suspended its operations following the outbreak of the Second World War.

The question of the need to open a higher educational institution in Guryev (now Atyrau) arose on the eve of the Great Patriotic War because there was an acute shortage of teachers in the region. There was only one teacher training school in the city that trained primary school teachers. In 1939, the Council of people's Commissars of the Kazakh SSR adopted a resolution on opening in Guryev biennial Institute with an intake of 120 students in the first-course profiles approved by People's commissariat for education of the Kazakh SSR.

Based on this decision, the Executive Committee of Guryev regional Council of people's deputies of its decision (Protocol No. 13 dated May 27, 1940) "About the opening of teachers' Institute" ordered the Cities Executive Committee to convey to the Institute the building of Guryev teacher training College and find a dormitory for 120 people. At the same time, a petition was submitted to the Council of people's Commissars of the Kazakh SSR for the construction of an educational building and a dormitory for 500 people in 1941.

The above-mentioned decree obliged the regional Department of public education to conduct preparatory and organizational work for the opening of a new University in September 1941.

In the first post-war years in the Guryev region, there was a special shortage of schoolteachers. After all, in the West of Kazakhstan since 1932, only the Ural state pedagogical Institute named after A. S. Pushkin operated, which was unable to provide teachers for schools in three Western regions of the country West Kazakhstan, Aktobe and Guryev. Therefore, on June 14, 1950, the Executive Committee of the Guryev regional Council of workers' deputies, based on the resolution Of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Kazakh SSR, decided, "to open a teacher's Institute in Guryev" (no. 3-333-16).

In August 1950, the Guryev teachers ' Institute was established with three departments: physics and mathematics, Philology and natural geography. The University has opened five departments: Marxism-Leninism, pedagogy, physics and mathematics, Russian language and literature, geography and natural science.

The Ministry of education of the Kazakh SSR has begun to form the leadership and teaching staff of the Institute. Here is what the first Director of the Guryev teachers' and then - pedagogical Institute, doctor of historical Sciences, Professor Kuspan Yespendovich Temirgaliyev wrote in his memoirs: "In the summer of 1950, I, a graduate Of the Kazakh State University named after S. M. Kirov, was invited by the Minister of education of the Republic A. S. Sembayev". In a conversation with me, he said: "The Ministry has decided to send you as the Director of the Institute in Guryev. You are a military man; you have been trained in military and political work. We are sure that you will be able to complete the responsible task. Three days to get ready. On the first of August, we must leave for Guryev". During the Minister's interview, I mentally prepared arguments to justify my rejection of the proposed appointment. Before I could open my mouth, the Minister handed me an order. Having crossed the threshold of the Minister's office as a graduate student, I came out as the Director of the Institute".

After appointing the Director of the Institute, the Ministry of education of the Kazakh SSR sent a group of graduates of The Kirov Kazakh State University who specialized in various fields to Guryev for the purpose of staffing the educational process: some of them were appointed heads of departments and departments, others - teachers. This group of experts were linguists Kadyrova and G. Bakharev N. E., historians Bayandiyev D. B. A. and Polskaya A., biologists Povarenski I. F., Kiseleva A. Ya., Votyakova I. P., I. G. Cheidukov physicist, mathematician Yakovleva, teacher Gayazova R. G, a psychologist Kuftyreva V. I. In Guryev, the teachers also included the philologist Azovskaya L. I., the geographer Tocheniy P. P., the physicists Akhmedzhanov Kh. A., Dzhumashev M. D., and others.

The building of the former V. I. Lenin school (where the music and pedagogical faculty of the University is now located) and two barracks for a student dormitory on Abay square were allocated as the academic building of the University.

The student intake was 150 people - 50 for each of the three departments with training in Russian and Kazakh. The first graduation took place in 1952, and the last in 1956. Over six years of operation, the teachers' Institute has produced 645 teachers to work in the fifth grades of secondary schools. Over the years, the teachers' Institute has strengthened its educational and material base, and the teaching corpus has been replenished with new specialists. Thus, the Foundation was created for the opening of a pedagogical Institute that would train teachers for the senior classes of secondary schools. Teachers were also needed-specialists of such profiles, which were not prepared by the teachers' Institute.

Meanwhile, the need of schools for teachers of all specialties was increasing. Therefore, by the Decision of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR, as well as the corresponding orders of the Ministry of education of the USSR and the Kazakh SSR in 1955, Guryev teachers' Institute was reorganized into a pedagogical Institute.

The newly created pedagogical University has two faculties (philological and physical-mathematical) and five departments (Marxism-Leninism, pedagogy and psychology, physical education, Russian language and literature, physics and mathematics). The first intake was 250 students, 125 at each faculty. The first graduation took place at the faculty of Philology in 1959, and at the faculty of physics and mathematics-a year later, in 1960.

In 1956, correspondence courses were also opened at both faculties. The first graduation of part-time students took place in 1961. In 1956, the rector of the pedagogical Institute was appointed candidate of historical Sciences, associate Professor Baitykov S. B. the First Dean of the faculty of Philology was Vakharev N. E., and the physical and mathematical-Akhmedzhanov Kh. A.

The first heads of departments were Fain L. E. - Department of Marxism-Leninism, Levchenko M. M. - Department of pedagogy and psychology, Mazo A. -physical education, Zhukov V. P. - Russian language and literature, Akhmedzhanov Kh. A. - physics and mathematics. Only four of the senior staff had a degree and title: Baitykov S. B., Fain L. E., Levchenko M. M., Zhukov V. P. Subsequently, all the above-mentioned teachers became doctors or candidates of science. In 1956, the Department of physics and mathematics was divided into two separate departments: physics - head of the Department Akhmedzhanov Kh. A. and mathematics - headed by M. N. Kalamatin.

The staff of teachers was 45 people. Of these, only five had scientific degree and title: of Baitykov S. B. - Director of the Institute, Fain L. E. - head of the Department of Marxism-Leninism, later-doctor of science, Professor, who worked at the Dzhambul technological Institute, and later - at the Vinnytsia pedagogical Institute; Levchenko M. I., who retired in 1957 and lived in Orenburg; Zhukov V. P., later - doctor of science, Professor, working at the Novgorod pedagogical Institute; Fedorov A. I., later - doctor of science, Professor, who worked at the Novosibirsk Department of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and then at the Institute of linguistics in St. Petersburg.

The faculty of physics and mathematics was located in the building of the teachers' institute, and the philological faculty was given the building of school No. 6 in the city's residential district of Zhilgorodok. In 1957, this faculty was located in two buildings of the pedagogical school. In one of the buildings, there was also the administration of the University.

The fifties, when the University was headed by B. B. Bikteubayev (1957-58) and K. Zh. Zhamanbayev (1958-62), became the period of formation of the Guryev pedagogical Institute. During these years, students built a third barracks-a dormitory in addition to the existing two, located on the square named after Abay, and a student canteen. Then a two-story dormitory was built next to the physical education building on Pushkin Street. In the same years, the library funds of the Guryev pedagogical school and the Aktobe Pedagogical Institute, which was closed in 1958, were transferred to the pedagogical Institute. These book collections became the basis of the University's scientific library.

Along with the strengthening of the educational and material base, serious efforts are being made to staff the University with scientific personnel, scientific growth and professional development of working teachers, and the publication of their scientific works. For calls to the Institute came to work by such scholars as A. V. Lebedev., Bektenov Kh. B., - candidate of pedagogical Sciences, Teplov E. F., Romanova Yu. F., Seliverstov M. L., Dzhakipbekov M. D., - candidate of Philological Sciences, Michelman I. D. - candidate of technical Sciences etc.

The direction of teachers to post-graduate has begun, and the widespread of competition has become. The first of the working teachers defended their dissertations for the degree of candidate of historical Sciences K. U. Temirgaliyev, physical and mathematical Sciences - A. Kh. Naubetov. In 1959, the first of the working teachers was sent to full-time postgraduate B. Baimukhanov, later-candidate of physical and mathematical Sciences, associate Professor, who worked at Kirov KazSU and the Republican Institute for advanced training of teachers.

During these years, serious efforts were made to publish scientific works. Only in 1959-62years, the Institute published three issues of "Scientific notes": the first series - physics and mathematics, and two - historical and philological.

The authors of the articles in the "Scientific notes" were Akhmedzhanov Kh., Yu. A. Medvedev, K. Temirgaliyev, L. E. Fain., V. P. Zhukov, I. R. Yemelchenko, E. I. Boyarski S. T. Kozhabayev L. I., Beliy M. D., Dzhakipbekov, M. M. Meshanov, K. Umraliyev.

A total of 19 articles by 12 authors were published in three series of "Scientific notes". This became a serious Foundation for future scientific work. Suffice it to say that of the 12 authors, five later became doctors, and six became candidates of science.

Students of the first graduates of the Guryev pedagogical Institute (1959-60) were distributed to all regions of Kazakhstan due to the lack of teaching staff.

The sixties of the last century, when the rector of the SPI was S. T. Kozhabayev, who headed the University in 1962-69, is a new stage in strengthening the educational and material base of the Institute, the scientific growth of the teaching corps, the expansion of specialties and the opening of new faculties, offices and departments.
In 1963, by the decision of the district party committee, the Institute was given the building of a boarding school, where the faculty of history and Philology and the University administration moved. At the same time, a lot of work was carried out on the design and construction of a standard academic building, two student dormitories, a student canteen, a sports complex, i. e., the complex of buildings that the University has today.
In the 60s, one dormitory was built for 575 places (No 1), where the educational building No 2 is now located. In this regard, the barracks-dormitories were demolished in 1964. In 1967, construction of the school building began.
In connection with the expansion of the list of specialties, the faculty of pedagogy and methods of primary education was opened in the 1962-63 academic year, and then it was closed for some time and re-established in the 1976-77 academic year. In the 1966-67 academic year at the faculty of physics and mathematics, the Department of biology was reorganized into an independent faculty of biology and chemistry.
If in the 50s the University trained teachers, mainly in two specialties, in the 60s-14. The growth of the Institute also required an increase in the number of departments, which by 1970 had become 15. Based on the Department of Marxism-Leninism, two were created: the history of the CPSU and political economy, philosophy and scientific communism. On the basis, Russian language and literature Department, which has been working since 1950, was established in 1961 as a separate Department of Russian language, Russian and foreign literature. A year earlier, in 1960, the section of Kazakh language and literature, which worked at the Department of Russian language and literature, acquired an independent status of the Department of Kazakh language and literature. In 1962, the foreign languages section of the Russian Department was transformed into an independent Department. In 1965, three departments - botany, Zoology, and chemistry-were created based on the Department of biology and agricultural fundamentals, which had been operating since 1964. The departments of pedagogy and psychology, physical education, physics, and mathematics continued to work.
To provide scientific and methodological assistance to the Institute, major scientists of the Republic are invited, which is a new form of training of scientific personnel from the working teachers of the University. In the 60s, among the invited scientists who worked at the Institute were corresponding members of the Kazakh SSR Academy of Sciences Klytev L. I., Berzhanov M., doctors of science, professors Balakayev M., Kenzhebayev B., Yeleuov T., Abishev G., candidates of science, associate professors (many of whom later became doctors of science, professors) Adilgereev Kh. M., Zherebyatev, Kabdulov 3., Tvardovskaya T. A., Shelyakhovskaya L. A., Azhigaliyev I. L., Baktilov and others.
In the 60s, the systematic direction of teachers to graduate study began. Among them - Bigiev N. K., Karpekov K. (1960), Dayrov G. D. (1961), Abilkhasimov B. A., Bakiev Zh. B., Kozhakhmetov U. (1962), Movkebayev A. (1963), Tikhova L. V. (1964), etc. Almost all of them finished the graduate study with the protection of scientific degrees of candidate of science, and later many became doctors of science, professors. Not only teachers but also the best graduates who finished from the Institute with honors, for example, A. Aytaliev in 1964, began to go to graduate study.
Since 1962 was used, and this form of qualification as institutions of improvement teachers of social Sciences, in which the first training course for the improvement of social scientists Bayandiev D. B., Izbasov E. I., Marchenko N. D., Utegenov Sh. I., Dzhusupov Zh., Aparov N. A. Imankulov E. I. Utegenov, N. I.
When the two-year advanced training courses for teachers of foreign languages were opened, R. Utegenova directed the first to them.
In addition, the Institute of trainee researchers at research centers and universities of the country has been used. GPI sent the first Zhumanova T. Zh. and A. Zh. Zhalgasova, who later became candidates of Sciences and assistant professors.
Since 1962, scientific conferences of University teachers have been held annually, and the creation of the student scientific society (SSS) has allowed for monthly scientific conferences.
In order to assist teachers who have joined the scientific work, visiting commissions of the Ministry of education of the Kazakh SSR were invited to the Institute to take exams in the volume of the candidate's minimum in philosophy, pedagogy, Kazakh and Russian languages, as well as Kazakh literature. In the 60s, a total of more than forty people passed the candidate's exams.
By 1970, the staff of GPI teachers had grown to 119 people, 17 of them had academic degrees and titles, and about 30 had postgraduate training. The number of students was 2,693, of which 1,198 were full-time and 1,495 were part-time. Thus, the number of students has increased more than tenfold compared to 1950.
Much attention was also paid to completing the library's book collection, which grew to 130,000 volumes. There were 235 newspaper and magazine titles written out each year. In order to ensure the learning process was a cinema room equipped with two roll-film cameras, the radio station apparatus for studies of foreign languages and school experiment, study of the history and political economy, philosophy and psychology, civil defence, mathematics, electronics, botany, Zoology, four study foreign languages, Russian language and literature, Kazakh language and literature, history, and the laboratory school experiment, mechanics and heat, electricity and optics, chemistry, spectral analysis and atomic physics. In the 60s, along with the strengthening of the educational and material base, construction, replenishment of equipment, activation of scientific growth and improvement of the educational process, much attention was paid to the activities of student organizations, student self-government, labor education, and Amateur performances. The first student construction team in 1963 was entered by the Central Committee of the Komsomol in the chronicle of labor Affairs of the Komsomol in seven-year-olds. Detachment commander, teacher K. Gabdullin and the Commissioner, a student of Zh. Kushenov was awarded the badges of the Komsomol "For selfless labour", and of the soldiers of the squad, five received diplomas of the Komsomol, 15 - diplomas of the Central Committee of the youth of Kazakhstan and more than 40 certificates of the regional Committee of Leninist Young Communist League and the Regional Executive Committee. Since that time, the work of construction teams has become traditional for many years.
A third of all students of the Institute were involved in Amateur performance. A choir, brass and pop orchestra, orchestras of Russian and Kazakh folk instruments, dance and vocal circles were created. Based on the club of music lovers, the faculty of aesthetics was opened. Artistic Amateur activity of the University became the basis for the creation of the ensemble "Zhaiyk kyzy", which later received the honorary title of national.
All the work in the 60s was directed and carried out by the heads of the University, faculties, and public organizations: Rector S. T. Kozhabayev, Vice-rectors L. I. Belyi, A. K. Daribayev, G. D. Abdrakhmanov, Deans N. I. Utegenov, Z. A. Aidomoganov, and N. E. Bakharev, I. Ya. Sunkovsky, G. D. Dayrov, P. M. Ivanov, secretaries of the party Bureau of the Institute F. M. Dzhanakhmetova, M. N. Nakonechnyi, N. P. Marchenko.

The increase in the number of faculties and departments was driven by the need to further improve the quality of teaching and learning and, on the other hand, by the stabilization of specializations within faculties such as the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, which trained teachers in three specialties; the Faculty of History and Philology, which also transitioned to training in three specialties; and the Faculty of Biology and Chemistry, which prepared teachers in one specialty. The newly established Faculty of Music Education, by the 1980s, was already training specialists in three specialties. Having started in 1950 with instruction in two specialties, by the 1980s the institution was preparing teachers in ten specialties.

All these processes required both an increase in the number of faculty members and their intensive academic development. Considerable efforts were made in this regard. By the 1980s, 233 faculty members were working across 24 departments, including one Doctor of Sciences and 48 associate professors and Candidates of Sciences. This became possible due to the consistent policy of enhancing the academic qualifications of the institute’s teaching staff. In 1974, M.S. Azhenov became the first faculty member to defend a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophical Sciences. During the same decade, more than 20 faculty members, applicants, and postgraduate students earned the degree of Candidate of Sciences. This progress was largely facilitated by the established system of advanced training institutes and faculties, postgraduate studies, internships, research appointments, and the planned provision of creative leave and academic business trips for faculty engaged in research activities.

In 1972, contract-based research was initiated for the first time with state farms, and later with regional enterprises. Academic growth was further stimulated by the participation of faculty members in all-Union, republican, and intra-university scientific conferences. In 1978, the institute hosted the republican seminar-meeting “The Relationship of Pedagogical Institutes with General Education Schools, Vocational Schools, and Public Education Authorities,” where 104 reports by scholars from 15 regions of the republic were presented. Of these, 22 reports (21% of the total) were prepared by the scholars and faculty of our institution. The seminar not only summarized the outcomes of scientific collaboration between pedagogical universities and schools across the republic but also outlined prospects for further work, giving impetus to the renewal of the content of scientific and practical conferences and seminars in universities, schools, vocational institutions, and teacher professional development courses, with a focus on the needs of rural schools.

The academic advancement of the faculty also contributed to the increased research activity of students. Annual student scientific conferences, republican Olympiads, and competitions for the best student research paper became standard practice. Later, a number of students who demonstrated a strong interest in research joined the institute’s teaching staff, defended their dissertations, and took their place in science and education.

In the 1970s, building on established traditions, the rectorate, dean’s offices, departments, and public organizations continued to improve the forms and methods of educational and extracurricular work among students. The well-developed system of student construction and agricultural brigades functioned effectively. These brigades not only fulfilled contractual work at construction sites and during harvest campaigns but were also actively engaged in outreach, cultural, and mass activities in their deployment areas. In 1978–1979, the institute was twice awarded the traveling banner of the Central Committee of the Leninist Communist Youth Union of Kazakhstan. Student amateur art groups traditionally summarized their achievements in vibrant spring competitions and festivals, in which nearly every student participated at the faculty level. These students also prepared the institute’s concert programs and formed performance ensembles, the core of which consisted of students majoring in “Music and Singing.”

Throughout the 1970s, this extensive and multifaceted work was led by rectors Duimagambetova S.D., Dairova G.D., and Sakhipov E.B.; vice-rectors Kirillov V.V., Dairova G.D., Sakhipov E.B., Blokhin A.V., Dyusenov M.I., and Tabyldiev Kh.B.; as well as the deans, the Party Committee, the Komsomol Committee, and trade union committees.