Kazakhstan aims to attract 150,000 international students by 2029 — what’s driving the push? - video Dailymotion

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Kazakhstan aims to attract 150,000 international students by 2029 — what’s driving the push?  Kazakhstan aims to meet the region’s growing demand for higher education by expanding partnerships with global universities and launching new research centres. With new AI programs underway, how are students being supported in entrepreneurship and deep tech development?  In partnership with MDQ  READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/07/01/kazakhstan-aims-to-attract-150000-international-students-by-2029-whats-driving-the-push  Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages

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00:00With over 1 billion people under the age of 25 across Central Asia and Eurasia,

00:14Kazakhstan is positioning itself as the region's higher education hub,

00:18modernizing universities, building global ties, and drawing in international students.

00:24Welcome to East-West Connect.

00:26We're highlighting business and economic developments in Kazakhstan and the wider Central Asia region,

00:32connecting with Europe and beyond.

00:34Kazakhstan has been part of the European higher education area for 15 years.

00:38After joining the Bologna process in 2010, it began aligning its university standards with Europe,

00:44improving mobility, degree recognition, and quality.

00:47Now, with demand for higher education rising across Central Asia,

00:51Kazakhstan is accelerating transnational education

00:54by inviting global universities to open campuses on its soil.

00:58In the past three years alone, nearly 40 transnational education partnerships have been launched,

01:03including five university branch campuses.

01:05Western universities are already in active collaboration with Kazakhstani institutions,

01:10some with campuses open or underway.

01:12Leading the way are British universities, followed by major U.S. institutions.

01:16Kazakhstan plans to open 34 more foreign university branches by 2029,

01:22aiming to increase its international student body nearly five-fold,

01:25from 31,500 today to 150,000.

01:29Of the current foreign students, nearly 40% come from India,

01:34mostly in recognized medical programs.

01:36For the first time, Asian students outnumber those from the post-Soviet space.

01:40And in a striking reversal, more Russians are now studying in Kazakhstan than the other way around.

01:46To understand what's driving the shift,

01:48we spoke to the person leading the country's education transformation,

01:52Minister of Science and Higher Education, Sayasat Nurbek.

01:55So we had very clear vision, one, bringing good, big partnerships,

02:03and then try to attract as many foreign students as possible.

02:07Second, research is becoming huge on our agenda.

02:11A lot of these great universities now have access to critical minerals, for example.

02:16And so we are launching several joint research centers

02:19in critical minerals enrichment and mining and metallurgy.

02:23How are international and domestic students supported

02:26in their entrepreneurship and deep tech development?

02:30Every single university student in Kazakhstan will have to go for AI courses,

02:35get certificates out of 650,000 students.

02:38Over 4,000 students already have certificates.

02:42Then we're launching a $100 million seed fund just to fund AI startups

02:47of these college students and faculty members.

02:49And then we're going to go through AI entrepreneurship module.

02:53And so every single student will have a possibility to become what we now call

02:57UNO CORN, so a one-person, billion-dollar company, a founder,

03:03with full support at every level, incubation, acceleration, and basic learning.

03:09What results are you seeing in aligning graduates with the global labor market?

03:14We'll have to wait for the first batch of graduates, and we're so far so good.

03:20We have Nazarbayev University, we have De Montfort University, and their graduates are really good quality.

03:26I mean, I would say they comply with any international demand.

03:30About 70% of these students, they go and hire by international companies, global companies,

03:36big four companies.

03:37Some of them pursue their academic careers in top universities, best Ivy League, best Russell Group,

03:44best research-intensive universities in the world for their master's programs, PhD programs.

03:49They stand up to any international standard given by large companies, Fortune 500 companies.

03:56Well, Mr. Minister, it was such a pleasure having you on our program today.

04:00Thank you for carving out the time out of your busy schedule for us.

04:03Thank you. Thank you for having me.

04:07Private companies are also stepping up with global partnerships.

04:11One local company is opening the doors to a new British university.

04:17A British liberal arts university will open in Astana next September,

04:21bringing Western education closer to home.

04:23Offering degrees in business, AI, and education,

04:26it plans to grow from 100 to 400 students by 2029.

04:29My plan is for it to set the new standards,

04:34especially in a commercially competitive field,

04:37where other big players will have to accept these roles

04:42and will have to improve their quality

04:44and will have to really care about their students

04:47and what kind of people their students will become.

04:50Gabitbek Akhmetov says Kazakhstan's regional position

04:52and cultural diversity make it uniquely attractive

04:55for students seeking a cross-border education.

04:57In combination with the Soviet fundamental science,

05:04with the Chinese advances in innovations,

05:07with the Western standards and expectations and ambitions,

05:13and all this,

05:14and some kind of Oriental kindness and hospitality included in that.

05:22And combined with our nomadic dynamism,

05:26I think this is going to be a success risk.

05:29With more Western campuses opening,

05:31Gabitbek Akhmetov believes Kazakhstan is on course

05:33to become a globally competitive education model.

05:38Four of Kazakhstan's top research universities

05:40have launched supercomputers with a combined capacity of 32 petaflops.

05:45That's 32 quadrillion calculations per second,

05:48powerful enough to train AI models,

05:50process vast databases,

05:52and run advanced scientific simulations.

05:54The country's flagship English language university

05:56is leading the way.

05:58Joining us in the studio

05:59is Nazarbayev University president,

06:01Waqar Ahmad.

06:04Mr. Waqar, welcome and great to have you on.

06:06Thank you for the invitation.

06:07I'm delighted to be here.

06:08Can you tell us more about the types of fundamental

06:10and applied research your university plans to conduct

06:13with the supercomputer capabilities?

06:15Prime example is the development of Kaza LLM.

06:17And as we develop further,

06:19we would need even greater computing power

06:23in order to do that.

06:24If you think that the basic model

06:26which was developed with Kaza LLM

06:27is largely text-based.

06:29So Kaza LLM was a basic model.

06:31We're now building on it.

06:34So there are new systems

06:35which focus on voice recognition.

06:37There are new tools

06:39which are using image processing and so on.

06:43And some of the new models

06:44which will be developed in this area

06:45are going to be all singing, all dancing models

06:48which use text, which use sound,

06:51which use image, and so on.

06:53Can you tell me how joint funds

06:55help reinforce Kazakhstan's standing

06:58as a regional academic and innovations hub?

07:00We are developing new kinds of partnerships,

07:02but we're also looking at how we can use

07:04the money that we invest in research

07:06jointly.

07:07So let's say that if we are investing

07:09a million dollars in research

07:12in a particular area,

07:13if we were to go into partnership

07:14with two other universities

07:15and if they were to match our funding,

07:18we now have three million dollars

07:19that we can bid for

07:21and they can bid for.

07:22But it also has the inbuilt advantage

07:24of collaborative research

07:26which would be of higher quality.

07:28It would get published

07:29in more prestigious journals.

07:32More people will use it.

07:34It would enhance the reputation

07:36of the university

07:37and the reputation of the country.

07:39And it would also address

07:40fundamental questions

07:41which face whether they face the economy,

07:45whether they relate to climate change,

07:46whether they relate to international relations,

07:48and so on.

07:49Thanks so much for being with us today.

07:51It's a pleasure.

07:54Bye for now

07:54and join us in the next episode

07:56of East-West Connect.

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Kazakhstan aims to attract 150,000 international students by 2029 — what’s driving the push?

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