In the 2024-2025 testing year, an overwhelming 89% of individuals who took the IELTS exam in Kazakhstan did so specifically for educational purposes.
24 November, Astana. The British Council, the UK's international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities, presents a recent TNE research – Transnational education partnerships in Central Asia, South Caucasus and Western Balkans, which has been commissioned to understand the environment for transnational education across several countries. For this study, the British Council has focused on two countries in Central Asia, namely Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, DKNews.kz reports.
The UK’s Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data from 2022–2023 was used to analyse enrolment data from UK universities in Kazakhstan, providing insight into trends, levels of study and active models of TNE. According to HESA, in the academic year 2022–2023, 680 Kazakhstani students enrolled in UK TNE programmes, marking an 86% increase from the previous year.
The TNE research highlights that Kazakhstan has ambitions to become a ‘regional academic mobility hub for the region’. Kazakhstan opened its first British international branch campus (IBC) in 2021 in Almaty – De Montfort University Kazakhstan. In September 2024, Coventry University opened a campus in Astana, welcoming its first students. In 2025, Cardiff University, a member of the Russell Group, also established its campus in Astana. This growth is underpinned by the Kazakhstan government's highly ambitious agenda to launch 12 branches of leading foreign universities by 2029, a move set to fundamentally reshape the nation's higher education landscape and create unparalleled opportunities for its youth.
In his speech during the TNE Forum “Kazakhstan - A Territory of Academic Knowledge”, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev noted: “Partnerships have been established with 40 leading universities around the world, and 33 branches of foreign universities have been opened”.
Kazakhstan’s surging interest in IELTS aligns with growing internationalisation and shifts towards transnational education (TNE) of Kazakhstan’s higher education landscape. While student mobility to the UK has dropped post-Brexit, UK-Kazakhstan academic partnerships via TNE and double degrees are rising.
The demand for English proficiency for academic purposes is clearly evident among local test takers. In the 2024-2025 testing year, an overwhelming 89% of individuals who took the IELTS exam in Kazakhstan did so specifically for educational purposes, demonstrating its essential role in realising international academic aspirations.
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