2025, April 24
Share this articleNazarbayev University has retained its position among the top 150 institutions in Asia and the top position in Central Asia.
Phil Baty is Times Higher Education's (THE) Head of International Relations presented President Waqar Ahmad with a formal certificate at the well attended Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings awards ceremony, held at the Macau University of Science and Technology, on 23 April 2025. President Ahmad notes:
‘The formal recognition by Times Higher of our top position in Central Asia is a credit to our community of academics, students, staff, Board of Trustees and other stakeholders. My congratulations to them all! The plans we are putting in place to strengthen research, teaching, student life and academic partnerships will enhance our standing among the world’s best universities and will be reflected in a substantial rise in our position in these prestigious rankings in the coming years.’
This annual snapshot of the best universities in Asia evaluates institutions across 18 performance indicators - the same as the THE World University Rankings but recalibrated to reflect specific priorities and attributes of Asian institutions. These performance indicators reflect five key areas: teaching, research environment, research quality, international outlook, and industry engagement.
At the Times Higher Education Asia Summit, President Ahmad and Prof. Atakan Varol presented groundbreaking work on generative AI to a well-informed and engaged audience. KazLLM and associated AI tools, are now in active service, supporting the government of Kazakhstan’s efforts towards digital sovereignty.
NU leadership position in Asia is also reflected in founding membership of the Asian Universities Alliance (AUA), a grouping of fifteen of the most research-intensive universities in the region. NU is strengthening its relations with several of the AUA members, including in research, student exchange and collaborative degrees.
