Shigeo Katsu resigns from Nazarbayev University after 13 years of service

Shigeo Katsu is going to resign from the office of the president of Nazarbayev University (NU) on June 15. Ilesanmi Adesida will be the acting president of the NU after that.

«After 13 years of service, President Katsu announced his resignation from the office. The university deeply appreciates President Katsu for his visionary and effective management, which have helped NU to become the first Kazakhstani university to meet high international standards,» NU said in a statement.

Katsu is a member of the board of regents for NU, Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools and Nazarbayev Foundation. Once the resignation process is over, he will serve as an adviser for the acting head of NU.

The new head of NU, Dr. Ilesanmi Adesida, is also the university’s current provost. He has worked at NU since October 2016. Before coming to Kazakhstan, he served as Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (USA).

About Shigeo Katsu

Katsu was born in 1952 in Japan. He studied international relations and economy in the University of Tokyo. Over the period from March 2003 to December 2010, he worked as vice president of the World Bank for Europe and Central Asia. In December 2010 he was appointed head of the NU. He is fluent in English, French, German, Italian, Chinese and Russian.

Despite huge respect for Katsu some Kazakhstani officials criticized his university. On May 17, 2023, Murat Abenov, a member of the parliament said that despite being a recipient of huge public funds NU doesn’t contribute to the development of Kazakhstani science.