Foreign University Branch Campuses in Kazakhstan — The Full 2026 Guide

If there is one shift in Kazakh higher education that international applicants need to understand in 2026, this is it. Over the past four years, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education has built — quietly but very deliberately — one of the most ambitious branch campus strategies in the world.

Today you can enroll at a UK Russell Group university in Astana, earn a New York Film Academy diploma in Kaskelen, study engineering with a City University of Hong Kong programme in Almaty, or do a Heriot-Watt degree in Aktobe. The diploma travels. The price tag does not.

Let's walk through what is actually open, what is coming, and how to apply.

The Ministry's official map — by the numbers

The Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan now coordinates a network of 40 academic and research excellence centres built in partnership with foreign universities. The breakdown:

• 5 full foreign universities operating their own institutions
• 22 foreign university branch campuses
• 1 strategic partnership network (Nazarbayev University with Cambridge, UCL, Duke, NUS, Wisconsin and UPMC)
• 1 joint consortium (the Kazakhstan–German Consortium at Yessenov University)
• 6 double-diploma programmes
• 3 certification centres

Of these 40 centres, 24 are already functioning, 10 launch during 2025, and 6 more come online in 2026. They span the entire country — not just Almaty and Astana, but Petropavlovsk in the north, Atyrau and Aktau on the Caspian, Aktobe on the western steppe, Kyzylorda, Turkestan and Shymkent in the south, Taldykorgan in the southeast, and Ust-Kamenogorsk in the east.

And it works. Kazakhstan now hosts more than 31,500 international students — and in 2024, for the first time ever, more of those students arrived from Asia than from the CIS bloc.

Why is Kazakhstan doing this?

The government's stated goal is to turn Kazakhstan into a regional academic hub for Central Asia. The thinking is straightforward — instead of losing the country's brightest students (and their families' money) to the UK, the US, Russia and increasingly the Gulf, bring the best universities to them. Cheaper for families, better for the local economy, and a soft-power gain for Kazakhstan.

To make it work, the Cabinet allocated 3,000 state-funded grants for international branch campuses in 2025 alone — covering tuition at the foreign-branded campuses for Kazakhstani and select international students. The plan is to host 12 branch campuses by 2029.

Who is open right now? (2026 status)

Cardiff University Kazakhstan — Astana

• Opened: September 2025
• Significance: Cardiff's first overseas branch; the only Russell Group campus in Central Asia
• Programs: Foundation Year + BSc Computer Science, BBA Business Administration, BEng Civil Engineering, BSc Geology, BSc Mineral Exploration
• Language: 100% English
• Initial cohort: 315 students
• Scholarships: 300 government grants allocated specifically for Cardiff in 2025

Cardiff Kazakhstan operates under direct governance of Cardiff University in Wales. Graduates receive a Cardiff-issued degree — the same parchment, the same QS-ranked institution, the same alumni status.

Coventry University Kazakhstan — Astana

• Opened: September 2024
• Significance: First British university branch campus in Astana
• Programs: Business management, computing, Global Business MBA
• Capacity: planned to grow to 3,500 students
• Language: 100% English
• Expansion: A second Coventry campus is planned for Almaty, focused on engineering and AI

Coventry's Kazakhstan operation is delivered in partnership with Primus Education LLP. The English requirement for the Foundation programme is IELTS 5.0 (September) or 5.5 (January).

New York Film Academy Kazakhstan — Kaskelen (near Almaty)

• Opened: September 2024
• Significance: NYFA's first campus in Asia and second outside the United States
• Programs: One-Year Filmmaking, Screenwriting, Acting for Film, Game Design, 3D Animation and Visual Effects
• Faculty: in-person delivery by NYFA's US-based instructors
• Capacity: up to 200 students
• Mobility: credits transferable to NYFA's New York and Los Angeles campuses

The campus is hosted on the Creative Industries Park of Energo University, in a renovated villa just 20 km south of Almaty. Students from Kazakhstan, China, India, Russia and beyond are already enrolled.

City University of Hong Kong @ Satbayev University — Almaty

• Status: joint programs running, full branch in development
• Significance: First Hong Kong university to establish a presence in Kazakhstan
• Programs: Engineering and AI as flagship focus; joint research in logistics, digital medicine, urban planning, agriculture
• Mobility model: 3+1+1 — three years at Satbayev, one year at CityU Hong Kong, one year master's at CityU
• Linked to the Bolashak International Scholarship Program for PhD and postdoctoral exchange

Heriot-Watt University — Aktobe

• Opened: as a branch at K. Zhubanov Aktobe Regional University
• Significance: Heriot-Watt's fourth global campus after Edinburgh, Dubai and Kuala Lumpur
• Programs: engineering, science, business — taught in English
• Why it matters: Aktobe sits on the western steppe — a major oil and engineering region

De Montfort University — Almaty

• Opened: 2021
• Programs: business, IT, design and creative industries
• Status: oldest established UK branch campus in Kazakhstan, with a settled alumni pipeline

University of Arizona micro-campus — Petropavlovsk

• Located at Kozybayev University in northern Kazakhstan
• Dual-degree programs in biotechnology and information science
• First US-Kazakh microcampus, opened with Arizona's first cohort already enrolled

Beyond the headlines — the full Ministry inventory

Most international coverage of branch campuses in Kazakhstan focuses on the four big-name openings above. The reality is far richer. Here is the broader landscape, region by region.

North — Petropavlovsk, Kostanay

• University of Arizona micro-campus at Kozybayev University, Petropavlovsk — biotechnology, information systems, inclusive education, psychology, chemical expertise, plant science, business and management
• Dong-Eui University (Korea) at Baltursynov University, Kostanay — mechanical engineering, technological processes
• Sookmyung Women's University (Korea) at Baltursynov — pedagogy and women's education
• Maastricht School of Management (Netherlands) — Kostanay double-diploma stream

West — Aktobe, Uralsk, Atyrau, Aktau

• Heriot-Watt University (UK) at K. Zhubanov University, Aktobe — petroleum engineering, electric power, computer engineering
• UFA State Petroleum Technological University at Zhangir Khan University, Uralsk
• Gubkin University (Russia) at Utebayev University, Atyrau — oil and gas pipelines, geology of reservoirs
• Kazakhstan–German Consortium at Yessenov University, Aktau — pools HAW Hamburg, TUHH (Hamburg), Hochschule Hof and others for logistics, renewable energy economics, robotics, water management, IoT engineering, data science and AI

Central — Karaganda, Astana

• Cardiff University Kazakhstan, Astana — Russell Group (covered in Blog 12)
• Coventry University Kazakhstan, Astana — business, computing, MBA (covered in Blog 13)
• University of Debrecen at L.N. Gumilyov ENU, Astana — Hungarian double-diploma streams
• University of Exeter (UK) at L.N. Gumilyov ENU, Karaganda — international law, business analytics
• Université de Lorraine (France) at Karaganda — service-sector business and management
• Strategic partnership network at Nazarbayev University — Cambridge, UCL, Duke, NUS, Wisconsin, UPMC, Pittsburgh and more

South — Shymkent, Turkestan, Taraz, Kyzylorda

• Arizona State University programmes — Shymkent
• De Montfort University — Shymkent (in addition to its Almaty campus): business, marketing, finance, management
• University of Glasgow programmes — Taraz, at Dulati University
• RKhTI (Mendeleev Russian University of Chemical Technology) at Dulati University, Taraz — chemistry, chemical technology
• Korkyt-Ata University, Kyzylorda — artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, information technology
• Zhanibekov University, Turkestan — pedagogy, physics teacher, English teacher tracks

Southeast — Almaty and surrounding

• City University of Hong Kong at Satbayev University, Almaty — engineering, AI (covered in Blog 13)
• INP Phelma (France) at Satbayev — nuclear engineering, advanced study
• Colorado School of Mines at Satbayev — geophysics, petroleum, geological engineering
• Penn State at Satbayev — mining and earth sciences
• Northwestern Polytechnical University (China) at Al-Farabi KazNU — electronics, materials, CS
• MIPT (Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology) at Al-Farabi KazNU — modern physics
• Queen's University Belfast at Narxoz University — economics, finance, marketing, tourism
• De Montfort University — Almaty original campus
• KAIST (South Korea) at Alatau — engineering, AI, biotechnology, agriculture
• New York Film Academy — Kaskelen, near Almaty (covered in Blog 13)
• TUSUR at Kazakh National Agrarian Research University — water management and land reclamation
• Politecnico delle Marche (Italy) at Zhetysu University, Taldykorgan — biotech, agronomy, engineering

East — Ust-Kamenogorsk, Semey

• LU Ban Workshop network at Serikbayev University, Ust-Kamenogorsk — operation of cars, technical operation of cars (Chinese vocational excellence centre)
• Shakarim University, Semey — economy, pedagogy, sport management, hotel and restaurant business, logistics, computer graphics

Who is coming next? (announced for 2025–2029)

• MGIMO (Moscow State Institute of International Relations) — Astana, international relations and diplomacy
• Gazi University (Turkey) — Shymkent, engineering and pedagogy
• Anhalt University of Applied Sciences (Germany) — Almaty, design and architecture
• Politecnico delle Marche (Italy) — Taldykorgan, technical sciences
• Woosong University (South Korea) — Turkestan, hospitality and IT
• Dong Eui University (South Korea) — Kostanay, engineering

Comparison table — branches at a glance

University

City

Country

Strongest fields

Cardiff University

Astana

UK (Russell Group)

CS, business, civil engineering, geology

Coventry University

Astana / Almaty (planned)

UK

Business, computing, MBA, AI

NYFA

Kaskelen

USA

Film, screenwriting, animation, VFX

City U of Hong Kong

Almaty

Hong Kong

Engineering, AI, joint master's

Heriot-Watt

Aktobe

UK

Engineering, science, business

De Montfort

Almaty

UK

Business, IT, creative industries

U of Arizona micro

Petropavlovsk

USA

Biotech, information science

Why this matters for you, as an applicant

Three things you used to have to choose between:

• A Western diploma that travels globally
• A tuition bill your family can actually afford
• A safe, modern country to live in

Branch campuses collapse all three into the same answer. You earn a Cardiff or Coventry degree, you pay Kazakhstani fees (often partly or fully covered by state grants), and you live in Astana or Almaty. The previous trade-off vanished.

Tuition and entry requirements — what to expect

Indicative tuition at the foreign branch campuses sits roughly 50–70% below the home institution's overseas fees. For example, a Cardiff University degree that would cost GBP 24,000–28,000 per year in Wales is delivered in Astana for a fraction of that, with hundreds of fully-funded government scholarship places on top.

English entry requirements typically follow the home institution's standards — IELTS 5.5 to 6.5 depending on program, or a Foundation Year that lets you build up to those scores. Some programs (NYFA, art-school style) also require a portfolio.

How to apply

• Apply directly through the branch campus website (cardiff.edu.kz, coventry.edu.kz, kaz.nyfa.edu, etc.) for self-funded study
• Apply through studyinkz.kz to compete for one of the dedicated government grants for branch campuses
• Some branch campuses still require you to apply via the home university's central admissions portal (e.g., Cardiff). The Kazakhstan campus pages tell you which route to take.

Should you choose a branch campus or a Kazakhstani national university?

Two simple questions:

• Do you want to work or study abroad later? A Cardiff or Coventry diploma carries more global recognition than a national Kazakhstani degree.
• Do you want to root yourself in Kazakhstan? A national university like KIMEP, Nazarbayev or KazNU has a deeper local alumni network and stronger ties to the local employment market.

Neither is wrong. Both are now realistic options.

Final note

Five years ago, you had to leave Kazakhstan to earn a UK or US degree. Today, you can earn one without packing a suitcase. That is the kind of structural shift that doesn't reverse — and the universities arriving now are the ones with the patience to stay for the long game.

If you are choosing where to study in 2026, the smart move is to put at least one branch campus on your shortlist alongside the national universities. The world has come to Kazakhstan. Walk in through the front door.

Official applications and resources

All international study applications and accredited programme listings in Kazakhstan are coordinated through the official portal of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan: studyinkz.kz.

studyinkz.kz is the single authoritative source for accredited universities, current scholarship deadlines, foreign branch campus admissions and the official invitation letter required for the C9 student visa. Apply through any other channel only after verifying that your programme is listed on studyinkz.kz.