Transmitting competencies at universities in Kazakhstan: intellectual capital of teachers
| Date | 08 January 2018 |
| Pages | 112-134 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JIC-04-2017-0058 |
| Published date | 08 January 2018 |
| Author | Gulbakhyt Sultanova,Serik Svyatov,Nurzhan Ussenbayev |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Knowledge management,HR & organizational behaviour,Organizational structure/dynamics,Accounting & Finance,Accounting/accountancy,Behavioural accounting |
Transmitting competencies at
universities in Kazakhstan:
intellectual capital of teachers
Gulbakhyt Sultanova, Serik Svyatov and Nurzhan Ussenbayev
Narxoz University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to measure individual intellectual capital (IC) of academic staff as
well as to test its impact on the employability readiness of future graduates and the reduction of
the discrepancy between competencies developed and grades obtained with the help of two indicators,
i.e. intellectual capital indicator (ICI) and employability readiness indicator (ERI). While ICI measures the level
of a teacher’s competencies to be transmitted in the education process, ERI measures the level of a student’s
competencies developed after completing relevant courses.
Design/methodology/approach –This is an empirical research carried out in the form of a case study.
Regression model is applied to find the influence of ICI on ERI. The minimisation problem is set with relevant
constraints to decrease the discrepancy between ERI and traditional grade point average (GPA).
Findings –The data were collected at one Kazakh university and from experts from academia and industry
by means of documentary analysis, specialised tests and structured interviews. The direct impact of ICI
on ERI is confirmed and the optimal level of ICI that permits an effective decrease in the discrepancy between
ERI and GPA is identified.
Research limitations/implications –A longitudinal study covering more programmes is necessary to
draw conclusions concerning causality. The application of ICI as a university’s management tool is shown.
Originality/value –The novelty of this study lies in providing a consistent and simple approach for
calculating a teacher’s IC and its impact on a student’s employability readiness.
Keywords Higher education, Teacher evaluation, Intellectual capital, Competency development,
Employability readiness
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
To successfully compete in the knowledge eco nomy, graduates have to possess
competencies demanded in the labour market. Thus, the efficiency of a higher education
institution (HEI) should be measured in terms of the ability of its academic staff to transmit
competencies, and the success of a graduate should be measured in terms of his/her ability
to develop competencies. This is the logic. But what happens at universities now?
The transmission and development of competencies occur in the education process.
Students attend courses and obtain grades that are integrated in a calculated average.
Each course aims to develop a set of occupation-specific and general competencies.
Whether a particular competency has been developed after attending a set of relevant
courses is usually disregarded. Furthermore, teachers are evaluated for instruction, but not
explicitly for their contribution to enhancing the level of student competencies. Whether
teachers themselves possess a particular competency at the level that allows them its
efficient transmission to students remains out of consideration.
The idea of investigating the process of competency development and transmission
has been derived from the necessity to confront grade inflation at one Kazakh university
(the University). It was discovered after testing three competencies of 65 final-year
undergraduate students in October 2014. Critical thinking, creativity and communication
skills were examined by means of written tests including multiple-choice questions and
essay composition as well as face-to-face interviews simulating a job interview.
The results showed a significant discrepancy between the grades obtained (3.16 out of 4.0)
Journal of Intellectual Capital
Vol. 19 No. 1, 2018
pp. 112-134
© Emerald PublishingLimited
1469-1930
DOI 10.1108/JIC-04-2017-0058
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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and the competencies developed (1.97 out of 4.0) in the courses completed (Sultanova and
Auken, 2016). Moreover, the students with the highest grades were not always at the top
of the employability readiness ranking. This observation was a starting point for
doubting the reliability of traditional grading for assessing achievements of students in
developing competencies. Searching for reasons for grade inflation, the intellectual
potential of 15 academic staff members was evaluated in May 2015 and compared with the
employability readiness of students. For this purpose, a special indicator was designed as
a set of teachers’qualifications such as education degrees, achievements in research and
innovation, work experience and networking, advanced training and proficiency in the
language of instruction. As the average value of this indicator (1.95 out of 4.0) was
compared with the average result of testing the competencies (1.97 out of 4.0), the link
between intellectual capacities of teachers and the employability readiness of students
became evident (Sultanova and Auken, 2016).
Bearing this in mind, in the previous research on the conceptualisation of the holistic
system for performance measurement at universities (Sultanova and Auken, 2016),
traditional indicators such as key performance indicator (KPI) for teachers and
grade point average (GPA) for students were complemented by additional indicators such
as intellectual capital indicator (ICI) for teachers and employability readiness indicator
(ERI) for students to find out how intellectual capital (IC) of academic staff satisfies the
employability of future graduates. This approach has established a link between
the internal and external environment, i.e. a university and the labour market.
For teachers, KPI is internally defined at the university and evaluates their performance in
activities implemented, while ICI is connected with the labour market and measures the
level of their competencies transmitted in the education process. For students, GPA is
internally defined at the university and assesses their success in courses completed,
while ERI is connected with the labour market and measures the level of their
competencies developed in different courses. These competencies are primarily
transferable competencies such as critical thinking, decision making, problem solving,
communication skills, teamwork, etc.
The purpose of the current study is to measure individual IC of academic staff (ICI)
as well as to test its impact on the employability readiness of future graduates (ERI)
and the reduction of the discrepancy between competencies developed (ERI) and grades
obtained (GPA). To address the criticism of focusing on employability skills (Booth
et al., 2009), this study discusses transferable competencies of future graduates that can
influence not only their professional careers, but also their personal development and
active citizenship (ENQA, 2015).
The structure of the paper is as follows. The next section gives a brief review of recent
studies on the concept of IC and its application in higher education and suggests the
research question. The “Methodology”section specifies the research context of
competency transmission at universities as well as introduces the visual model and sets
the hypotheses. This section also describes the empirical model and the process of data
collection and measurement. The “Findings”section provides and interprets the research
results. The “Implication”section depicts the implications of the study for practice and
research as well as lists limitations of the study. The paper ends with concluding remarks
and suggestions for further research.
Literature review
In this section, recent literature discussing IC as a concept and its link to performance,
the application of the IC concept in higher education and the evaluation of intellectual
potential and teaching performance of academic staff are discussed and the research
questions are formulated.
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Transmitting
competencies
at universities
in Kazakhstan
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