- Top universities from Russia, UK, Turkey, South Korea, Germany, and Italy to open campuses in Kazakhstan by 2025-26.
- Kazakhstan offers tax incentives and free land to foreign institutions as part of its transnational education push.
- International student numbers hit 31,500; Kazakhstan targets 100,000 by 2028 under the 'Study in Kazakhstan' initiative.
As reported by the country's ministry of science and higher education, Russian, UK, Turkish, South Korean, German, and Italian universities will be opening institutions in the central Asian nation.
These include the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, UK's Cardiff University and Coventry University and Turkish Gazi University which will all open branch campuses. Furthermore, South Korea's Woosong University is to branch out to Turkistan and the nation's biggest city, Almaty, will host Germany's Anhalt University.
And Taldykorgan will host Italy's Politecnica delle Marche as it introduces its Kazakhstan campus, and South Korea's Dong Eui University will open one in Kostanai. We also view our academic allies as strategic investors, hence the same tax incentives are accorded to them according to Sayasat Nurbek, ministry of science and higher education, Kazakhstan.
While the institutions are anticipated to be set up by 2025/26 and individual programs yet to be finalized, fields like international relations, business, engineering, computer science, hospitality, healthcare, and design would be targeted, from what is typically offered by the universities.
According to a report by the Astana Times, Kazakhstan today hosts branch campuses of 23 top universities, and the nation is now stepping up efforts to attract huge investment in transnational education as part of its wider internationalisation policy.
The nation's ambitious TNE plan is also being boosted by bountiful government bonuses with land gratis offered to universities establishing bricks-and-mortar sites, according to The PIE News in May 2025.
"We treat our academic partners as strategic investors, and therefore they are granted the same tax benefits," Sayasat Nurbek, Kazakhstan's minister for science and higher education, said at the time.
Kazakhstan's expanding globalisation drive comes as international students in the country reached a record high of 31,500, last year, and with plans to boost that to 100,000 by 2028.
For the first time ever, the number of students arriving in Kazakhstan from Asian nations has exceeded those from the Commonwealth of Independent States, a development that has been spurred by the government's Study in Kazakhstan initiative. "The biggest cohorts today are from India, Russia, and China, with the project "attracting talent and building reputation", said minister Nurbek.
