Foundation Year Program

FOUNDATION

NUFYP (Nazarbayev University Foundation Year Program) – a one year intensive program at the Center for Preparatory Studies of Nazarbayev University.

The program provides intensive personal development, study skills, mathematics, and academic language proficiency preparation to the undergraduate programs of Nazarbayev University.

Most of the students study under the state educational grant of the Republic of Kazakhstan. It is also possible to enroll on a fee-paying basis or other forms of funding.

Following the results of the study at NUFYP, Nazarbayev University Schools accept students for further education at the undergraduate programs.

The guide for undergraduate and foundation programs.

How to apply

Entry examinations and requirements

Important dates

Selection process

Enrollment

Enrollment on a fee-paying basis

Useful resources

Applicants must go through the online application to participate in the competition:

Step 1.

Create your Personal account

Go to http://admissions.nu.edu.kz portal, press the “Sign up” button and fill out the required information in English. Please select the undergraduate program during choosing the Academic level.

After completing the application, confirm it by clicking on the link sent to your mailbox.

Be sure to read the instructions about the application procedure given in your Personal account.

Step 2.

Fill out the application form

Open the Foundation Program link at the “My Application Forms” page and fill out the Foundation Application Form and Consent form for personal data processing according to the online form. Make sure you have entered all the required information in the correct manner and press the “Upload” button.

Step 3.

Submit the required documents

After filling out the application form you are required to upload to your Personal account:

a scanned copy of proof of your studies at a final grade/course with photo (according to the template in a Personal account in one of the languages) or a notarized copy of a certificate/diploma with transcripts if you have already completed a relevant level of study.

a scanned copy of national ID card and/or passport. Important: to take the entry exam an applicant must have a passport or a national identity card uploaded to a Personal account;

Upload a 3*4 photo for documents to the “Profile” section in your Personal account.

The format of requested documents is available in a Personal account.

Step 4.

Pay the application fee

The application fee shall be paid online in your Personal account at the “My application forms” section with a bank card.

The application fee is 3 000 tenge. The application fee is increased 3 times from the established amount when paid within the last two weeks before the first officially approved deadline and/or during the extension period for accepting applications for participation in the admission process.

This amount is non-refundable.

If there is no card you may use the card of another person.

Step 5.

Finish the application process

After completing all above-mentioned steps please press the «SUBMIT APPLICATION»

After submission applicants cannot make any changes in their applications and submitted documents.

Admissions Department will check your application and contact you if there is an issue with the application or specify if some documents are missing and deadlines to submit them. Incomplete or incorrect (uncorrected) applications will not be considered in the competition.

Step 6.

Submit IELTS/ TOEFL/ Linguaskill certificate

In order to provide IELTS/TOEFL certificates, applicants should fulfill the following requirements:

To send an official electronic report of valid IELTS/TOEFL certificate via the Test administrator directly to Nazarbayev University;
To upload its scanned copy and insert its data to the “Upload IELTS/TOEFL results” section of a Personal account. Applicants can submit any number of certificates for the competition, but the last certificate uploaded to their Personal account will be considered.

To provide Linguaskill results, applicants should fulfill the following requirements:

To send results to Nazarbayev University via the Test Center with confirmation that test was taken in person at the Test Center (not remotely);
To upload results to the “My application forms” section of a Personal account (after pressing the “Submit application” button at the “My Application Forms” page). Applicants can submit any number of certificates for the competition, but the last certificate uploaded to their Personal account will be considered. A collective certificate with the best scores for each section is not accepted.

IELTS/TOEFL/Linguaskill certificates are considered without superscoring.

Take care when entering information regarding codes for test certificate submission via the Test Administrator or the Test Center. See below:

Code for IELTS: Nazarbayev University
Code for TOEFL iBT: 6762
Code for Linguaskill: Nazarbayev University

Detailed Instruction on the provision of IELTS/TOEFL certificates is available in applicants’ Personal account.

Minimum requirements for language test results are available in the “Entry examinations and requirements” section;
Test taken remotely, not in the Test Center, such as IELTS Online, TOEFL iBT Home Edition and TOEFL PDT results are not considered in the competition;
All provided certificates must be valid by August 1, 2023 - the beginning of the respective academic year.
Deadline submission of IELTS/TOEFL/Linguaskill certificates is available in the “Important dates” section.

Please note that submission of IELTS/TOEFL certificates in the electronic database of Nazarbayev University is not within the competence of the University. You should independently contact the Test center and make sure that your certificate has been sent. Please note that this action takes at least 7-10 working days. If the certificate is received after the deadline, specified by the Admissions Department, results will not be considered in the competition.

Further steps

Please check your email 1-2 weeks before the NUET exam – the information about the upcoming exam date, time and venue along with Exam Rules will be sent there.

Please keep in mind that sometimes letters from the University may go to the spam box.

If you experience any difficulties with the application, send an email to info_admissions@nu.edu.kz. Do not forget to provide a detailed description of the problem, your IIN (for citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan) and Applicant ID number.

Instructional video with a sample application form for the Foundation program

Watch the instructional video with an example of completing the application form for the Foundation program. Some details can differ from the last application version. Please note that personal details given in the application form are fictional.

Applicants meeting the following eligibility criteria can take part in the competition:

Students in the final year of secondary education institutions, technical, vocational, post-secondary and higher education institutions;
Students studying in higher education institutions;
Graduates from secondary, post-secondary or higher education institutions.

The selection process consists of the following stages:

Stage I. Submission of the online applications. September–November;
Stage II. Entrance exam. February–March;
Stage III. Consideration of applicants’ files. April–May;
Sending notifications about admission. May-July*;
Documents submission (upon request of the University). June–July.

*Applicants from the waiting list may receive an admission offer if vacant places become available until the start of the classes.

Applicants who failed to receive minimum passing scores cannot progress to the next stages and will be excluded from the competition.

Minimum requirements of language test results:

Academic IELTS minimum requirements: overall score of 6.0 (5.0 in each section);
TOEFL iBT minimum requirements: overall score - 60, writing - 16, reading - 6, speaking - 15, listening - 5.
Linguaskill minimum requirements: overall score - 170, in each section - 161. Certificate is considered without superscoring. A collective certificate with the best scores for each section is not accepted. Detailed information is available in the “Useful resources” section;
All provided certificates must be valid by August 1, 2023 - the beginning of the respective academic year;
Deadline submission of IELTS/TOEFL/Linguaskill certificates is available in the “Important dates” section;
IELTS Online, TOEFL iBT Home Edition and TOEFL PDT results are not considered in the competition;
IELTS/TOEFL/Linguaskill tests must be taken in person at the Test Center (not remotely).
IELTS/TOEFL/Linguaskill certificates are considered without superscoring.
Only applicants who provide IELTS/TOEFL/Linguaskill results, which meet minimum requirements and within the specified deadline, can be allowed to take NUET exam (see below).

NUET (Nazarbayev University Entrance Test) – test that evaluates academic training for studying at the University.

NUET is held in 2 subject sections - Mathematics and Critical Thinking & Problem Solving.
Number of questions – 60.
Test content – multiple-choice questions.
Test duration – 120 minutes. Minimum passing score – 120 in total for 2 subjects, while minimum passing score for each of the subjects shall not be less than 50. For example, 50 + 70 = 120 – is a minimum passing score in total.
In case of applying for both Foundation program and Undergraduate programs according to the “NUET applicants” category, an applicant is invited to the test once and takes it 1 time. Therefore, it is important to indicate in the application forms the same city for passing the test. Foundation and Undergraduate programs’ Admission Committees will consider the results of one exam.
Test results are available in 6 weeks in a Personal account.
The number of tasks and duration of the entry examination are subject for change by Test administrators.
Information about access to the entry examination is placed in the applicant’s Personal account.
Applicants are informed about examination date and venue, information on format, as well as required documents and Rules of conduct during the examination via email approximately 5 days prior to the exams.
Examination schedule is published in the “Important dates” section.
If a violation of rules or conditions of passing the test occurs, the applicant's results are cancelled. In this case, the applicant is excluded from the competition. Disqualified applicants will not be able to enroll to NU in the future.
There is no appeal procedure.

Online application period: September 25, 2022 – December 01, 2022

The deadline for the submission of IELTS/TOEFL/Linguaskill certificates: December 27, 2022
Deadline for provision of additional IELTS/TOEFL/Linguaskill certificates in order to improve results of language tests (for applicants who have taken the NUET exam): March 27, 2023.
Preliminary NUET dates:

No.	Exam dates	Cities
1	February 19, 2023	Astana Almaty
2	February 26, 2023	Atyrau Kokshetau Semey Taldykorgan Shymkent Karaganda Uralsk
3	March 5, 2023	Aktobe Pavlodar Aktau Petropavlovsk Oskemen Taraz Kyzylorda Kostanay

Sending notifications about admission: May – July
Submission of hard copies of documents(upon request): June – July
Orientation week : to be announced
Start of classes : to be announced
Dates of admission to study on a fee-paying basis are published in the “Enrollment on a fee-paying basis” section.

Applicants, who did not pass the previous stage of the competition, will not be allowed to participate in the next stage;
At the third stage the Admission Committee composes the ranking of applicants based on the NUET and IELTS/TOEFL/Linguaskill results. Priority is given to the applicants with the highest overall NUET score. If applicants have identical NUET results, the priority will be given to the applicants with the highest scores in “Mathematics”. If “Mathematics” results are equal, the priority will be given to applicants with the highest scores of the language test. If the overall score of the language test is equal, the priority will be given to applicants with the highest scores in sections in the following priority - writing, reading, speaking, listening. Based on the approved number of seats the Admission Committee recommends applicants for admission to the Center for Preparatory Studies of Nazarbayev University.
Applicants not included in the enrollment list under “Nazarbayev University '' state grant but meeting the admission requirements shall be put in a waiting list. In case of a vacant place in the list of applicants recommended for admission, applicants from the waiting list may be recommended by the Admission Committee for admission to study at the Center for Preparatory Studies. Applicants in the waiting list can also be offered an opportunity to participate in the competition for admission on a fee-paying basis.
Successful completion of the admission stages does not guarantee admission to the Center for Preparatory Studies of the University.

Description of the status assigned to the applicant at every competition stage

All registered applicants can check the status of their application in the Personal account. Description of the status below is presented in the order of assignment to the applicant in the Personal account.

Application in processing. This is interim status, which means that the application is being processed. Admissions Department will check the application package and inform the applicant on further steps, if necessary.

Needs to take NUET. This status is given to applicants before the NUET exam to notify them about the necessity to take the test. The invitation with instructions will be sent to the applicant's email about 5 days prior to the exam. The exam schedule is available in the “Important dates” section.

Not allowed to take NUET. The applicant was excluded from the admission competition due to non-compliance or violations of the competition conditions before the exam. He/she terminates the participation in the enrollment competition.

Passed NUET. Successfully passed the NUET and received passing scores.

Failed NUET. The applicant failed to score a required NUET passing mark. He/she terminates the participation in the enrollment competition.

Missed NUET. Didn't show up at the NUET exam. He/she terminates the participation in the enrollment competition.

Meeting entry examinations minimum requirements. Applicant’s documents and his/her scores meet the minimum entry requirements of the competition. Applicants with this status will be included into the final ranking and are advised to wait for a notification from the University. If he/she has high scores in the exams, then there is a high probability that he/she will soon receive an admission offer. If the scores are low, it is advised to wait for the next notification. If seats are vacated, admission offers can be sent.

Withdrawn. The applicant refused to participate in the admission competition at his/her own request. It can be put down at any time from the beginning of the competition.

Withdrawn due to UG choice. The applicant was automatically excluded from the NUFYP competition due to the undergraduate admission offer acceptance. Applicant can be enrolled to one academic program and/or level of education only.

Recommended for admission. Recommended for enrollment by the decision of the Admissions Committee and will receive an admission offer with the conditions for enrollment.

Waiting list. Applicant is not included in the number of recipients of the invitation due to a low ranking. Nonetheless, there is a chance that offers may be sent if one of the previously recommended applicants refuses to enroll. In case there are no more vacant seats, the applicant will be rejected or can take part in the additional competition for a fee-paying NUFYP.

Accepted admission offer. Applicant accepted the admission offer within the specified period and submitted enrollment confirmation form and paid the guarantee fee. Further conditions for enrollment:

Submission of the required documents.
Signing the contract on educational services.
Participation in the orientation week held by the Center for Preparatory Studies for newly arrived students.

Refused admission offer. Applicant filled out the form and indicated refusal from enrollment after receiving the admission offer or did not fulfill the conditions of enrollment

Refused in favor of UG. This status is available to the applicants applied both to NUFYP and Undergraduate programs. This status is given to the applicant who rejected to study in the NUFYP in favor of the Undergraduate program. It is given after the written refusal of the applicant to study at the NUFYP.

Rejected by Admissions Committee. Rejected by the Admissions Committee due to the absence of vacant places for enrollment and based on the completion of the selection.

Did not submit the documents/Refused. The applicant did not provide the documents within the specified period. This means that the applicant refuses to study at the University.

Did not come to Orientation week/Refused. Failed to show up for Orientation Week, which means the applicant refuses to study at the University.

Enrolled. Applicant officially enrolled to the University by the Provost's decision. This status is given after registration of the Provost’s decision. This is a final status as an applicant before transition to a student status.

Disqualified. Disqualified due to violations of regulations and conditions in the exam or in the competition. For example, he/she cheated on an exam or provided deliberately false information.

Enrollment of the applicants to Nazarbayev University is implemented in the following sequence:

Recommendation for admission. Status of recommended applicants will be changed to “Recommended for admission”. In the “Admission results” section of Personal account applicants will see the Admission offer and Instructions for documents submission to University with deadlines and requirements;

Admission confirmation. Applicants recommended for admission by the Admission Committee shall sign Enrollment Confirmation Form and Form of Consent on Guarantee Fee Payment and pay the Guarantee Fee in the amount of 30 000 tenge in Personal account. The Guarantee Fee will be returned to the Applicant after he or she signs an agreement and starts the classes at NU;

Submission of documents and signing an agreement. The applicants shall submit required documents to NU departments within the dates indicated in the Notification letter. Therefore, please, make sure to read the Notification letter very carefully in order to meet the requirements and deadlines. All the hard and soft copies of documents should be submitted to the University within the deadlines. The applicants also sign an agreement with the Center for Preparatory studies;

Participation in an orientation week. Before the start of the classes, all invited applicants take part in an orientation week;

Enrollment. After fulfilling the above mentioned requirements, applicants are enrolled in the University. Enrollment of Applicants is legalized by the decision of the University Provost.

A package of documents for enrollment to the University to be submitted by the applicant to the Admissions Department will be indicated in the Instructions for documents submission.

If the original of the secondary school education diploma with transcript is not in Kazakh, Russian or English, it is required to provide a scanned version of a notarized translation of this document into English in addition. Failure to provide the required documents in time will result in the applicant's disqualification from further participation in the competition.

University has the right to request additional documents from foreign citizens or stateless individuals.

All documents submitted to NU are not subject to return. An exception is an official original of the secondary school (аттестат с приложением), technical, vocational, or post-secondary diploma (диплом с приложением) with transcript, which is returned after completion of studies or withdrawal from the University by the Office of the Registrar.

Online application for a fee-paying basis: March 1 - June 30, 2023.

Following applicants can participate in the selection process for the enrollment on a fee-paying basis:

those who took part in the selection process of the current year for state educational grants and were included in the waiting list without receiving a grant;
those who register on the admissions.nu.edu.kz portal and independently passed IELTS/TOEFL/Linguaskill and SAT/ACT with results meeting the minimum admission requirements indicated below:

Test name	Score	Comments	Deadlines for passing test
1.1 SAT	1140		June 3, 2023
or
1.2 ACT	23		June 10, 2023
AND
2.1 Academic IELTS	6.0	5.0 in each section	June 30, 2023
or
2.2 TOEFL iBT	60	writing - 16 reading - 6 speaking - 15 listening - 5	June 30, 2023
or
2.3 Linguaskill	170	161 in each section	June 30, 2023

*IELTS Online, TOEFL iBT Home Edition and TOEFL PDT results are not considered in the competition.

IELTS/TOEFL/Linguaskill tests must be taken in person at the Test Center (not remotely). Certificates are considered without superscoring. A collective Linguaskill certificate with the best scores for each section is not accepted.

The tests should be sent to the University address via Test Administrator using the Nazarbayev University code (Institutional Code):

Nazarbayev University – for IELTS
6762 – for TOEFL
Nazarbayev University - for Linguaskill
7915 – for SAT
5521 – for ACT

Detailed Instruction on provision of IELTS/TOEFL certificates is available in applicants’ Personal account.

All provided certificates must be valid by August 1, 2023 - the beginning of the respective academic year. The terms of expiration of IELTS/TOEFL test results are provided by the respective official websites of each test. Within this admission competition, the SAT and ACT certificate expiration period is 3 years and the Linguaskill certificate expiration period is 2 years.

Deadline for submission of IELTS/TOEFL/Linguaskill and SAT/ACT results: July 11, 2023

Sending notifications about admission: July - August, 2023

Submission of hard copies of documents: upon request, July - August, 2023

Information about enrollment is available in the “Enrollment” section.

A package of documents for enrollment on a fee-paying basis to the University to be submitted by the applicant to the Admissions Department will be indicated in the Instructions for documents submission.

If the original of the secondary school education diploma with transcript is not in Kazakh, Russian or English, additionally it is necessary to provide a scanned version of a notarized translation of this document into English. Failure to provide the required documents in time will result in applicant’s disqualification from further participation in the competition.