Nazarbayev University has continued to strengthen its position in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, moving up 200 places over the past two years. In 2025, the University was ranked in the 501–600 band. In the following ranking cycle, it moved up to 401–500, and in this year’s rankings, it entered the 376–400 band.
NU is ranked #1 among universities in the CIS – a noteworthy improvement from 4th position last year, while also retaining its position as the top-ranked university in Kazakhstan and Central Asia.
The THE World University Rankings is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading university rankings. This year’s edition includes a record 2,297 universities from 118 countries and territories, 106 more institutions than the previous year. It is also encouraging to see broader growth across our national higher education landscape, with a record 10 Kazakhstani universities featured in the THE rankings this year.
Amid growing international competition, NU has moved from the top 23% to the top 17.4% of universities worldwide.
Times Higher Education assesses universities across five areas: teaching, research environment, research quality, international outlook and industry engagement. In the latest ranking, NU improved its performance across almost all areas.
The strongest-performing pillar continues to be Research Quality (score 84.1), highlighting the increasing influence and impact of the research produced by NU faculty and researchers. In this measure, NU’s performance is comparable to that of globally recognised institutions such as the University of Geneva (#163), University of Arizona (#139), and University of Rochester (#136).
“First and foremost, I would like to congratulate the entire NU community and Kazakhstan on this achievement. For the first time, a university from Kazakhstan has reached this level in one of the world’s leading university rankings. This is an important achievement not only for our University, but also for the country’s higher education system. This result reflects years of work by NU faculty, researchers, students and staff. I would like to thank everyone whose efforts contribute to the development of our University, science and education,” said NU President Professor Waqar Ahmad.
Interest in NU among prospective students continues to grow. This year, around 12,000 applicants applied for admission, while the number of international students admitted reached a record high in the University’s history. The graduate employment rate also remains high, at more than 95%.
These results reflect NU’s strengthening academic reputation and growing trust in the University both in Kazakhstan and internationally. Its consistent progress in global rankings demonstrates the University’s sustained development and growing role in the global academic community.
