al-Farabi Kazakh National University (al-Farabi KazNU) is one of the oldest and most established universities in Central Asia. Yet, it is young and dynamic, and it is gaining sustainable leadership in providing education services in the region.
Kazakh National University was found in 1934. The university got a new large campus territory (100 h.a.) in 1970. The university started to accept foreign students from different countries in 1985.
The university has more than 19.000 students who study at 14 schools in Science, Engineering, Humanities and Social Sciences.The university maintains close relations with leading universities from around the world. al-Farabi Kazakh National University joined the Indo-US Collaboration for Engineering Education. The MDP/Global Classroom was launched by the support of ColumbiaUniversity in 2011. Hewlett-Packard opened its first training and research center in the Central Asia Region at the university campus in 2012.
The university is a member of the following international organizations: the International Association of Universities, European Society for Engineering Education, the international Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience and International Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence.
Every year world-leading scholars including Nobel Prize winners such as John Forbes Nash, Finn E. Kydland, Roger D. Kornberg, Christopher Pissarides and Murray Gell-Mann deliver lectures before al-Farabi KazNU students. More than 500 international professors from 20 different countries teach at the university.
The university offers programs taught exclusively in English, at the same time, it provides opportunity to international students to study Kazakh and Russian.
It has the biggest campus and sport facilities in the Central Asia. 11 students from al-Farabi Kazakh National University were members of national team and participated in the 2012 London Olympic Games. Svetlana Podobedova became the gold medal winner of weight lifting.