Students at Almaty's Turan University complained that shortly before graduation they were allegedly told to urgently complete AI-Sana courses, a basic artificial intelligence program launched on the president's instruction. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
According to the students, they had not been previously informed about the mandatory nature of these courses. The students claim that in one message, a curator wrote that without completing the course, diplomas and their supplements could not be issued, and urged them to start studying immediately.
Graduates also stated that they were allegedly offered to take a test through a "prepared specialist" for 5,000 tenge. After they intended to contact the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the media, the university administration apologized and said they were "misunderstood," according to the students.
"I offer my official apologies. You will receive your diplomas with supplements. You misunderstood the advisor. The issuance of diplomas is not related to completing the AI-Sana course," reads the administration's message cited by the students.
Kursiv sent a request to the university. The university stated that participation in the course is voluntary and that completing the program is not linked to diploma issuance. Initially, the university did not comment on the information about possible payment for the test, but later declared "zero tolerance" and initiated an internal investigation.
The Ministry of Science and Higher Education also noted that the courses are voluntary and do not affect diploma issuance. The ministry added that the situation has been resolved and the university apologized to the students.
Earlier, Kursiv reported that Kazakhstan became the first Central Asian country to begin large-scale implementation of ChatGPT Edu in the educational environment.