By Aida Haidar,Fatima Kemelova

Copyright astanatimes

ASTANA — Kazakhstan has been rebranding its universities to enhance educational standards and position the country as a hub for learning in Eurasia. In today’s turbulent world, it aims to provide students with a safe and stable environment to study. One example is Shokan Ualikhanov Kokshetau University, located in my hometown.

I spoke with Zhailagul Sagyndykova, the university’s Vice-Rector for Internationalization and Infrastructure Development, PhD and Associate Professor of Linguistics, about the school’s history and recent milestones.

She proudly cites the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, which measure contributions to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

“Our university ranks second in Kazakhstan for Goal 4 – Quality Education, among 14 leading institutions. I would call it a flagship of educational quality,” she said.

With more than a decade in academia, first as a professor and now in administration, Sagyndykova oversees campus digitalization, infrastructure upgrades, library development, and information and communication technologies. “That includes our entire material and technical base: computers, interactive boards, internet connectivity,” she explained.

Leading in AI education

The conversation took place shortly after President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s September state-of-the-nation address, which placed a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence.

Sagyndykova said the university has been ahead of the curve. “We’ve been introducing AI for several years, keeping pace with the country’s national plans. It’s not only about using AI to improve internal processes, but about teaching students the skills they’ll need in the wider AI economy,” she added.

A key initiative is AI Sana, a nationwide program that aims to train students in AI skills across different fields so they can apply them professionally.

“The 50 best AI-based projects will compete in a national start-up contest. Our university is responsible for training all students across our region – about 13,000 in total,” Sagyndykova said.

Training takes place on the Astana Hub and Huawei platforms.

“All our students received certificates. From the 100,000 participants across Kazakhstan, those with engineering, programming, and prompt-engineering skills, teams will be formed, gradually narrowing to the top 50 AI products,” she said.

Faculty and staff are also part of the push.

“We’ve taken responsibility for training our colleagues, working with Astana IT University, other institutions, and programs like Google’s and Coursera’s AI in Education. Our administrators and professors have already attended specialized AI courses: four colleagues traveled abroad, two to India and two to China, for training in AI in Education, AI in Law, and AI and Data Science. This year, we’ll continue expanding these courses to help faculty embed AI into their teaching,” Sagyndykova noted.

The university also integrates AI into its own operations with each academic program, including internal AI-related courses, from information systems to computer science and teacher training.

“As a vice-rector, I oversee five AI agents. Three enhance our services: handling admissions, scheduling, and academic management. Another supports student mental health through an automated chatbot developed with a partner company to detect stress and depression levels. The fifth agent focuses on construction safety,” she said.

For Sagyndykova, these steps are only the beginning. The university, she emphasized, intends to stay at the forefront of Kazakhstan’s AI-driven educational future.

Digitalization and infrastructure

Digitalization projects go hand in hand with infrastructure development: upgrading the university’s material and technical base. Teaching is critical, but so are reliable high-speed internet connections and strong cybersecurity.

“Sidelined with AI development, we’re also expanding our Data Science program. There’s strong demand, there are students, and we have the program. We run several programs in information systems, and we also offer a master’s in that field,” Sagyndykova added.

Despite a shortage of specialists, the university fills the gap by hiring its own graduates to work on digitalization and AI implementation.

“Our students and alumni developed our student mobile app themselves. It took about a year and a half to build, and in the end, they borrowed some ideas from Kaspi because convenience matters. Our Telegram bot has become very popular on campus, with almost everyone using it alongside the mobile app. Getting it onto the App Store and Play Market took about six months. For a regional university, registering on the App Store was a saga in itself,” Sagyndykova said.

She also warned that AI could widen the gap between the educated and the uneducated, the wealthy and the poor.

“That’s why what the ministry and the President are doing is the right approach. We generally follow the strategies of European universities. In Finland, for example, absolutely everyone – from nail technicians to the president – learns about artificial intelligence. I think that’s the right way forward,” she said.

From languages to ecology, a flagship of quality education

Shokan Ualikhanov Kokshetau University is located in Kokshetau. Sagyndykova often notices that many people across Kazakhstan are not familiar with the city itself, despite its proximity to the Burabay resort area, one of the country’s most beautiful places. Over the years, the university has built a strong reputation as one of Kazakhstan’s leading linguistic institutions, with robust programs in Kazakh, Russian and English.

Beyond language studies, the university offers a wide range of disciplines: ecology, education and teacher training, and graduate programs in biology, chemistry, mathematics, and agronomy.

“You can start here at 17 and graduate with a PhD by 26,” she said. In ecology, for example, there is a master’s program focused on waste management, and the doctoral track specializes in technological ecology, essentially, environmental science.

“I believe the Ualikhanov University brand lies in the consistent quality of our educational services. In the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, which measure progress toward the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, we rank second in Kazakhstan for Goal 4 Quality Education out of 14 universities. Only Satpayev University is ahead of us. So, I’d call us the flagship of quality education,” Sagyndykova said with pride.

The university operates without the level of state support some other regional institutions enjoy.

“Universities like Kozybayev, Baitursynov or Atyrau have more opportunities thanks to government funding and grants for developing their branch campuses. We don’t have branches yet. Instead, we focus on dual-degree programs and building strong strategic partnerships. Today, we work with Nottingham Trent University in the United Kingdom, Penn State in the United States, and Xinjiang University in China. We aim to have a reliable partner in every key region,” she explained.

Growing international student body

Sagyndykova also highlighted the university’s advanced research in agriculture, its comprehensive three-tier degree programs, a growing medical school, and an increasingly international student population.

“In 2018, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education decided to open advanced medical schools at regional universities,” she said.

“Today, we have a well-developed system that covers every stage of medical education, from a bachelor’s degree to residency. Just recently, we received accreditation from the ECFMG [Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates]. This means our graduates can now take certification exams in American and Canadian centers. After passing the tests, they can work in the United States or Canada. That’s something international students are especially eager for,” she said.

“We currently have about 400 international students, mostly from India and Pakistan, though there are others from different regions. Right now the majority of them are studying at the higher school of medicine,” she added.

This expansion raises questions about updating visa regulations and related tax issues for foreign students who wish to stay and work in Kazakhstan. “Minister Sayasat Nurbek has already spoken about this recently,” she added.

“I think we’ll soon be offering different strategies so they can remain longer or take internships – just as Korea, the U.K., and the U.S. do to keep talented young people,” she explained.

The university also plans to increase the number of international students.

“We’re developing dual-degree programs with Woosong University in Korea and have two joint programs with Mykolas Romeris University in Lithuania. We intend to expand these partnerships,” she said, noting growing competition among Kazakh universities and the arrival of foreign branches such as Cardiff and Coventry.

“When Maulen Ashimbayev [the chairman of the Senate] visited us for a presentation, he remarked that we now have more international students than Nazarbayev University. I said, yes, that’s right,” she recalled with a smile.

A linguist at heart

Sagyndykova described herself as a “true linguist, an Anglicist.” One of her papers was titled “From Relinguism to Multirelinguism.”

“The Akmola Region fascinates me. I’m deeply drawn to it because multilingualism is genuinely present here. It’s a unique feature of Kokshetau,” she said.

She studies how language policy has evolved and shaped attitudes toward languages and one another.

“We recently surveyed 1,000 university students, and you’d be amazed at how multilingual they are. Of course, the internet plays a big role. Yes, yes, the internet. Some are even learning Ancient Greek. We think mostly about Kazakh, English, maybe Chinese, or the popular Korean, but these young people go further. They’re studying Finnish and Swedish, languages that are truly rare in our country. It’s globalization at work; a multilingual environment pushes people to learn more,” she concluded.