1 Introduction

A notion of “competence” supplements triad “Knowledge-experience - skills”. The triad is not sufficient to describe the educational process. It is necessary to consider professional competencies for providing labor market with highly qualified specialists. “Professional competencies” mean to master knowledge, skills and abilities in professional field The concept of academic competence of a graduate is same as the definition given in the European project Tuning. Academic competence is the ability to know and understand the theoretical knowledge in academic field; the ability to apply knowledge to specific situations; the values as an integral part of the way of perception and life in a social context [1,2,3,4]. Competence is a set of skills specific to each individual including qualification. It means that qualification is not enough to be a result of education. The competence approach is a priority orientation goals to the vectors of education: learning, self-determination (self-determination), self-actualization, socialization and the development of individuality [5]. The modular-competence approach allows to move from knowledge to application and organization of knowledge it also increases the flexibility of the education system to expand the possibility of performing work. The Republic of Kazakhstan as the leading world states supports the concept of a market-oriented innovative university based on a triangle of knowledge (education-science-innovation). The concept is aimed to large-scale investment in human resources, development of professional skills and research, supporting the modernization of the education system in order to meet their needs of a global knowledge-based economy [6]. To implement innovative activities there is a need in a system of its organization which was named as Knowledge Transfer System [7]. The Bologna process unambiguously determines the need to adjust the system of relationship between universities and enterprises considering transfer of knowledge as the key component of university development, which provides commercialization of research and market - oriented educational programs. Knowledge transfer is organizational systems and processes through which knowledge, including technology, experience and skills is transferred from one side to the other which leads to innovation in the economy and social sphere [8]. The article considers application of the modular-competence approach to educational programs, taking into account the requirements of professional standards. The modular-competence approach with use of ontology to educational programs is reflected enough in works [9,10,11,12].

2 The Ontological Model

Agreement between educational programs and professional standards ensures high-quality training of specialists. It means the correspondence of academic and professional competencies. The more this correspondence is the more qualitative will be the training of specialists. Correspondence to European framework of ICT competencies and agreement of our educational programs to global standards are essential for our specialists to compete in global labor market. Comparison of the competencies of educational program, professional standards and the European Framework of ICT Competencies (the European e-Competence Framework - e-CF) form the general requirements for vocational training required to carry out specific work activities. Competencies of the educational standard are the results of training (competence) from the modular educational program of the specialty. To achieve the planned result of learning it is necessary to study certain modules with subjects. Competences of professional standards correspond to knowledge, experience and skills necessary to work in professional phere. Competencies from the e-CF qualifications framework are reference competencies that include knowledge and skills. The ontological approach allows us to combine these three types of competences and transfer professional competences to the content of subjects. It will ensure the demand for graduates of higher educational institutions in the labor market without additional training or retraining. An important function of the ontological model is the integration of heterogeneous data and knowledge of various fields of knowledge. The ontological model differs from the others written using known means and graphical languages by them being not just individual models, but fragments of a general ontology [13, 14]. The information model of the university’s distributed knowledge base includes the ontology of the university’s educational programs, the ontology of the professional competencies demanded on the regional labor market and the ontology of the European ICT Competence Framework (e-CF) [15]. The model of knowledge of the university is a set of ontologies, has the following form 1:

$$\begin{aligned} O_U = {<}O_{EP}, O_{PS}, O_{e-CF}{>} \end{aligned}$$
(1)

where

  • \(O_{EP}\) - ontology of educational programs of the university;

  • \(O_ {PS}\) - ontology of professional standards;

  • \(O_ {e-CF}\) - ontology of the European ICT Competence Framework.

The ontological approach allows us to combine these three types of competences and transfer professional competences to the content of subjects which will ensure the demand for graduates of higher educational institutions in the labor market without additional training or retraining. Using the ontological approach, it is necessary to develop a knowledge base of modular educational programs of the university, professional competencies and e-CF. Using the ontology of educational programs EKSTU allows to automate the stages of expertise associated with verifying the composition and structure of modular educational programs, checking the consistency of the prerequisites for modules. The ontological model of educational programs, created earlier in the framework of the Grant Financing project, has been improved with the help of new concepts, properties and relationships. To build a complete information model of university knowledge, it is necessary to build ontologies of professional competencies and e-CF. The article deals with the implementation of the modular-competence approach in the field of information and communication technologies. In the Republic of Kazakhstan, the sectoral framework of qualifications and professional standards in the field of information technology (IT) are under development. On the basis of them universities would develop educational programs for training IT professionals. Holding company “Zerde” develops 10 professional standards, which will create the requirements for the professional qualification of IT professionals. Professional standards reflect professions, for each profession, skill levels and labor functions are defined. Based on the structure of the Professional Standard of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the main classes and relations of ontology are defined, the ontology of professional standards is constructed Fig. 1 Ontology, together with many individual instances of classes, constitute a knowledge base. Figure 2 shows a fragment of the constructed ontology.

Fig. 1.
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The main classes of the ontology of the professional standard

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Fig. 2.
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Fragment of the constructed ontology

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3 Assessment of the Compliance of Training Results with the Qualification Requirements of Labor Functions

The method of analyzing hierarchies (MAI) involves decomposing the problem into ever simpler parts and handling expert judgments. As a result, the relative significance of the investigated variants is determined for all criteria in the hierarchy [16]. Relative significance is expressed numerically in the form of priority vectors. To assess the compliance of training results with the qualification requirements of labor functions for a particular post, it is necessary to perform several steps, shown in Fig. 3. Matrices of paired comparisons are constructed and filled by experts. The calculation and hierarchical synthesis have been made. The analysis of the results of the resultant vector shows which options (learning outcomes) are prioritized for this position. As follows from the diagram in Fig. 4, the highest priority for the position of “Information Security Specialist” has, according to experts, the result of training (competence), according to L12 special competence. The highest priority for the post “Network Administrator” has the result of training (competence), formulated in L14, L11, L13 special competencies. The highest priority for the position of “Software Developer” (Fig. 4) has, according to experts, the result of training special competencies L11, L13, L14, and for the post “Business Analyst” - L19, L20, L17. in Fig. 4. It should be noted that, according to experts, the least priority is given to the training of special competencies L23, L24, as each ICT specialist is mastering them, based on other learning outcomes [17].

Fig. 3.
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Algorithm for conformity assessment

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Fig. 4.
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Learning outcome

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Fig. 5.
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Distributed integrated circuit

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Fig. 6.
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Distributed integrated architecture

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4 Architecture of the Distributed Information System of Knowledge Transfer of Universities

Within the framework of the concept of a market-oriented innovative university, the task is to improve the education system, in the direction of developing professional skills. To solve this problem, it is necessary to build a distributed information system for the transfer of knowledge of higher education institutions Fig. 5. Participants of knowledge transfer of universities are students, university entrants, teachers, researchers, employers, management, the authorized education and science bodies and the administrator. The general information model of the university’s distributed knowledge base includes the ontology of the university’s educational programs, the ontology of professional competencies demanded inthe regional labor market, the ontology of the European ICT Competence Framework (e-CF) and the ontology of scientific knowledge. The ontology of scientific knowledge was developed earlier in the framework of the Grant Financing Project. Distributed systems are client-server systems. The models of these systems and advantages are considered in the article [11]. The three-link model is favorable becausethe interface with the user is completely independent of the data processing component. In the three-tier model, the user interface component and data management component (and databases including) are clearly highlighted.. Between them there is middleware which performs the functions of managing transactions and communications, transporting requests, managing names and many others. Middleware is the main component of distributed systems. The client explicitly requests one of the services provided by the application component. The client sends the request to the information bus, without knowing anything about the location of the service. For the Client, the database is hidden by a layer of services. Moreover, he generally does not know anything about its existence, since all operations on the database are performed inside the services [11]. Service-oriented architecture is a set of services. Based on the three-tier architecture and the use of services, the architecture and functional scheme of the distributed IS, presented in Fig. 6, is constructed. As a prototype of a distributed information system, to interact with a distributed knowledge base, let’s consider the construction of a semantic educational portal. To ensure the transfer of knowledge of universities between all participants - teachers, students and employers, it is necessary to create a single educational space, i.e. educational portal. Figure 7 shows the structure of the semantic educational portal. To access the knowledge contained in the ontology of educational resources, it is necessary to develop services for interaction with the knowledge base, encapsulating technologies for working with the knowledge base and inference. The services of interaction with the knowledge base use the OWL API library. The OWL API library has a modal structure and represents functions for editing the knowledge base and organizing the operation of the inference engine [20]. Since Protégé 4.3 is used HermiT will be used as the inference engine, as it supports the OWL DL standard more than Fact ++. The knowledge base consists of ontologies of educational programs, professional standards and the European Framework for ICT Competencies (e-cf) Fig. 7 The main components are a distributed knowledge base management system (SURB), a web server and an application server (middleware). To access and manage data, a link is used for “thin” or “thick” clients. The distributed knowledge base assumes the storage and execution of knowledge management functions in several nodes and the transfer between these nodes during the execution of requests. Partitioning of data in a distributed database can be achieved by storing various tables on different computers or even storing different parts and fragments of the same table on different computers. For a user (or application program), it does not matter how knowledge is shared between computers. To work with a distributed knowledge base, if it is really distributed, should be the same as with a centralized database, i.e., the location of the database should be transparent [18]. To access the local network for convenience, a Windows server can be used. The knowledge base is located on another server, for greater security, it is recommended to use a Unix server [19]. Two servers are used to work with the knowledge base. The user has the opportunity to work with distributed IP, not only in the local network, but also via the Internet, using the Web server. For access through the local network, LAN (LAN) support is used. For Internet access, a web browser and network protocols are used. The competency-based approach will help to overcome the discrepancy between the requirements for the quality of education between the state, society and the employer. That in its turn will allow the university to respond flexibly to changing conditions of the external environment and develop educational programs, improving their quality and relevance in the market of educational services. It is essential to create a single educational space, i.e. educational portal to ensure the transfer of knowledge of universities between all participants - teachers, students and employers.

Fig. 7.
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The main classes of the ontology of the professional standard

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5 Conclusion

An information model of the university’s distributed knowledge base has been built up, including the ontology of the university’s educational programs and the occupational competencies demanded in the regional labor market and the ontology of e-CF. The method of analyzing hierarchies for posts has been approved. The obtained expert assessments will be used and included in the competence knowledge ontology database. This approach will allow students to build an individual learning trajectory aimed at obtaining concrete results necessary for performing interesting labor functions. The method of analyzing hierarchies allows examining the educational program in terms of learning outcomes and the requirements of labor functions. The architecture of the distributed information system of knowledge transfer of higher educational institutions is presented. As a prototype of a distributed information system, the structure of the semantic educational portal is constructed to interact with a distributed knowledge base.