Four Kazakhstani universities crack global ranking

There are more than 2,000 institutions from 115 countries on the list / Photo: Shutterstock, photo editor: Aruzhan Makhsotova

Four universities in Kazakhstan have made it onto the 2025 ranking of the world’s top universities, recently published by Times Higher Education (THE), a leading U.K.-based educational rating agency. These universities are Nazarbaev University (NU), Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (KazNU), Gumilev Eurasian National University (ENU) and Satbayev University, according to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Kazakhstan.

NU ranked in the overall 501-600 range, rising by several places from its previous standing. The university particularly excelled in the «Education» subject category, where it secured a position in the 251-300 range.

KazNU is in the 1001-1200 range, with notable advancements in the «Teaching» and «International Outlook» categories.

ENU maintained its position in the 1201-1500 range, with slight changes in its scores for the «Teaching» and «Citations» categories.

Satbayev University, which was in the 1501+ range in 2023, maintained its position but improved its scores in the «International Outlook» category.

The top spots in the ranking were held by universities from the U.S. and the U.K., including Oxford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, Princeton University and Cambridge University.

This latest ranking includes more than 2,000 universities from 115 countries.

“THE’s world university ranking, renowned as one of the most prestigious global assessments, evaluates universities across four key parameters: teaching, research, citations and international cooperation,” the ministry explained.

Earlier this year, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), a higher education analytics firm, published its world university ranking for 2025. The ranking featured 21 educational institutions from Kazakhstan, with notable performances from KazNU, ENU and Satbayev University.