Graduate School of Public Policy

The long-awaited event for the NU GSPP cohort of 2021 was held by the School on December 5. The Graduation Dinner ceremony that should be hosted last Summer was postponed due to COVID-19 Pandemic. Worthy of note is that this year the School had its first cohort of doctoral students who graduated with their PhD in Public Policy degrees.

At the beginning of the dinner a minute of silence was observed in memory of Dr. Laurent Richard, Associate Professor and Undergraduate Geology Program Coordinator from the School of Mining and Geosciences who unexpectedly passed away in October.

Welcoming graduates, NU GSPP Dean Professor Weng Tat Hui said: “Your time at GSPP has well-equipped you with skillsets and mindset to be resilient to better face the uncertainties and challenges ahead.” He congratulated the students on their graduation but noted that their learning journey is not complete as they still have the Singapore component to experience.

The special guest of the dinner, the NU President Shigeo Katsu in his welcoming remarks stressed: “We always talk a lot about the VUCA world, which is not predictable. But we have experienced the VUCA world, and it is to be continued. The latest news on Omicron have psychologically already created a lot of pressure.  And for us, the duty is not just to follow rules and PCR tests, and deal with any other variants in the future. We need to talk about and practise Good Governance. And Good Governance Matters”. After his welcoming speech, President Katsu presented graduation letters from the National University of Singapore’s LKY School to each graduate.

According to the School’s unique tradition the faculty determined the best final Master projects. The awards for the MPP and the MPA graduates were presented by NU GSPP Vice-Dean for Academic Affairs Professor Colin Knox and Vice-Dean for Research Professor Riccardo Pelizzo.

Best MPP Policy Analysis Exercise Award goes to Gulaiym Tnymbergen and Dinara Zhumagulova for their PAE on “Gender-based differences among entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan: access to credits” supervised by Dr Zhanibek Arynov.

Best MPA Master Project award goes to Zhazira Altybayeva and Saule Tuleussarinova for their project on “Organizational Change in Mental Health Centers in Kazakhstan: A Case Study of North and East Kazakhstan Oblasts”! Supervised by Professor Dina Sharipova.

The special merit prize, an exceptional award given in recognition of achievements in the difficult on-line teaching and learning circumstances goes to Zarina Malik and Zhanel Sembayeva with the PAE project on “How does emotional intelligence affect the academic performance of STEM students at Nazarbayev University and Kazakh-British Technical University?” Supervised by Professor Omer Baris.