Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan celebrated its 10th anniversary this year and its incredible achievements as such a young institution. Being officially established on the 28th June 2010, the university then enrolled the first cohort of 490 students. Fast forward 10 years, and the student body is now 5,400 strong – more than 10 times that of the first year.
Nazarbayev University has a diverse faculty and student population; students from 22 different countries currently study there with a faculty which is 79% international, the largest numbers hailing from the US, Great Britain, and Canada.
Over the years, Nazarbayev University has proven that education, science, and innovation can and should develop together, and it’s this joint development which leads to amazing discoveries.
Many of their highly-qualified graduates have gone on to secure roles in world-famous corporations such as Apple, Facebook, Google, BMW, and Microsoft and many other companies worldwide. Other graduates decide to continue their academic studies at world-renowned institutions such as the University of Oxford, MIT, Harvard University, UCL, and National University of Singapore, just to name a few.
Mr. Shigeo Katsu, President of Nazarbayev University, says,
“Ten years in the life of a university is similar to a child having just learnt to walk, but we have developed so much. A third of our research is already published in the top 10 international peer-review journals, placing us among the top 20 universities in Central and Eastern Europe. However, we must still learn to run and jump over the barriers we are yet to encounter. Therefore, we have set ourselves ambitious goals for the next 10 years, including making it into the global rankings of top universities.
“As well as forging and maintaining the relationships we have with international universities, such as the University of Cambridge, The University of Pennsylvania, and The National University of Singapore, we intend to build a strong network of quality research universities within Kazakhstan, and invite students and academics from all over the globe to come and discover Kazakhstan’s next generation. We want to attract global talent to us, rather than just exporting our own to other countries.”
According to the Nazarbayev University Strategy, they are projected to enter the world rankings of Universities by 2030, at only 20 years old, and intend to take a place among the best.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, planned celebratory events had to be changed: all celebration moved online, with the university also holding their first digital graduation ceremony, as well as offering free webinar lectures from professors in celebration of their anniversary, alongside other exciting events.
