2025, June 2
Share this articleTHE interviewed NU President Waqar Ahmad about the university’s internationalisation strategy, evolving academic partnerships, and its approach to knowledge exchange.
In the interview with Times Higher Education, Professor Waqar Ahmad, President of Nazarbayev University (NU), emphasized the university’s commitment to addressing regional and national challenges through global collaboration, citing examples such as faculty development programs and research partnerships with universities in Asia, Europe, and the United States.
Professor Ahmad also spoke about NU’s active role in the Asian Universities Alliance (AUA), which includes top institutions like the National University of Singapore and Tsinghua University. NU is currently launching a dual degree in entrepreneurship with one AUA member and exploring collaborative research initiatives. More than 70% of NU’s publications in 2025 were in the top quartile of Scopus-indexed journals, reflecting the university’s growing international research reputation.
As global education shifts, NU is rethinking how partnerships should work. In contrast to extractive models, NU insists on mutual benefit. For example, NU provides its research labs to local scholars, shares its curriculum with other Kazakh universities, and supports faculty exchange programs. “We are also exploring joint research funds between NU and AUA (and other) partner institutions,” Professor Ahmad added.
With two-thirds of its research co-authored internationally and new joint degree programs under development, NU is becoming a regional hub for academic innovation.
