Inside the 31,500 - Who Is Actually Studying in Kazakhstan in 2026?

Kazakhstan now hosts more than 31,500 international students from over 100 countries. In 2024, for the first time in the country's history, the number of students arriving from Asia overtook those from the post-Soviet CIS bloc. India alone sends roughly 12,000 students. Russia: 5,000. China: 2,058. Pakistan: 1,182.

Where Students Come From

The Ministry of Science and Higher Education has mapped the international student population across 40 academic excellence centres with foreign partners. The data reveals a student body that is more diverse, more academically ambitious, and more strategically minded than the headlines suggest.

What They Study

Medicine remains the most popular field for international students, accounting for roughly 35% of enrolments. Engineering, IT, and business follow closely. English-medium programs have grown fastest, doubling in size since 2022.

Why the Numbers Are Rising

Three factors drive the growth: government scholarships covering 550 fully-funded places annually, the arrival of branch campuses from Cardiff, Coventry, Penn State and others, and Kazakhstan's improving QS rankings. The trend line points to 50,000 international students by 2028.