Home – Home – Jornals – "Philosophy of Education" 2020 number 3

Introduction. The problem of the formation of national identity is one of the key in the global sociocultural discourse. A key role in this process is played by modern universities. Following the logic of science, the modern university is returning to its original idea: to give holistic, fundamental knowledge, to be the intellectual center of the nation and the generator of new ideas. Only under this condition is it possible to form highly qualified specialists capable of withstanding fierce competition in the world of the digital economy. Responding to the spirit of the times, the modern university puts on its agenda the problem of preserving national identity, broadcasting cultural traditions and producing new cultural meanings. The solution to this problem involves focusing on a specific theoretical matrix of national construction. The article analyzes the matrices of the ethnic and civil nation and argues that Kazakhstan, like most countries in the world, follows the matrix of the civil nation in politics. Methodology and methods of the research. The preferred model for the implementation of such a matrix in Kazakhstan is, as the authors believe, the recognition of the Kazakh culture and the Kazakh language as an integrating principle of Kazakhstan identity. This model is implemented in the educational space of the al-Farabi Kazakh National University, whose experience is analyzed in this article. However, the formation of Kazakhstan’s identity presupposes entering into a multicultural dialogue, since national self-knowledge is carried out in the process of mutual understanding. In this regard, the article discusses the results of the New Humanitarian Knowledge Project «100 new textbooks in the Kazakh language», the purpose of which is to master the best world examples of educational and scientific literature in the Kazakh language, which will contribute to strengthening the Kazakh identity. The results of the research. The University as a form of spiritual perception and transfer of knowledge from generation to generation has always contained the essential idea of integrity, unity of natural Sciences and Humanities. At a certain historical stage, when the concept of differentiation of knowledge was on the agenda, the idea of the University was called into question. The needs of the new technological wave and digital reality are reviving the idea of integrity inherent in University education, which should provide a fundamental scientific basis, teach the ability to think creatively, and be innovators and developers rather than adaptors. Integrity is based on the spiritual essence, the priority of moral and humanistic values, the education of humanity, the ability to understand and cooperate. All these qualities are included in the totality of national identity, the foundations of which are laid in the works of the classics of Turkic philosophy. Conclusion. The article analyzes the experience of the al-Farabi Kazakh national University, which based its innovative project on the national model of education associated with the legacy of the outstanding Eastern thinker Abu Nasr al-Farabi. Two principles of the University are United in this great name: encyclopedic, integrity, fundamental and priority of spiritual and moral principles, high humanistic values of human existence in the world.