A delegation from Nazarbayev University (NU), led by President Waqar Ahmad, visited Kozybayev University in Petropavlovsk to explore new opportunities for cooperation with regional universities in education and research, as well as closer ties between universities and industry.
During the visit, NU representatives met with the leadership, deans, and researchers of Kozybayev University, toured its research facilities, and discussed specific areas for joint work. These included artificial intelligence, smart agriculture, agrogenomics, water resources, advanced materials, and remote sensing.
Potential joint projects address a number of challenges relevant to Northern Kazakhstan, including agricultural digitalization, the development of climate-resilient crop varieties, more efficient water management, industrial prototyping, and the use of GIS, unmanned technologies, and artificial intelligence to monitor floods, droughts, and wildfires.
NU President Waqar Ahmad highlighted Kozybayev University’s research and infrastructure capabilities and expressed NU’s interest in developing new forms of partnership with regional universities. Such collaboration can help align specialist training and research more closely with the needs of regional economies while strengthening research and technological capacity across the regions.
The visit also included a tour of S.M. Kirov Plant JSC, where representatives of the universities explored the company’s production capabilities and discussed how its industrial facilities could support the testing and practical application of joint research projects.
Following the visit, NU and Kozybayev University signed a Memorandum of Cooperation covering joint educational and research projects, academic mobility, workforce development, technology transfer, and the commercialization of research. The next step will be to identify specific projects and establish joint research teams.
Photo courtesy of the Kozybayev University Press Office
