Al-Farabi Kazakh National University

Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (Kazakh: Әл-Фараби атындағы Қазақ ұлттық университеті), also called KazNU or KazGU, is a national research university located in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Named after philosopher and scholar al-Farabi, it is one of the country's largest universities.

KazNU is Kazakhstan's oldest classical university. It was established on November 13, 1933 by a resolution from the Soviet Communist Party's Kazakh Regional Committee. In 2023, KazNU was ranked 150th in the world by the QS World University Rankings.

In 2001, KazNU was classified as a "national" university by the government of Kazakhstan. More than 20,000 students study at KazNU, and there are more than 2,500 faculty members working there, including professors, associate professors, 400 Doctors of Science, and more than 800 Candidates of Science.

In 2021, KazNU was named one of the Top 500 Universities in the World.

Campus

Al-Farabi Kazakh National University has its own campus, known as "Kazgugrad". It is located in one of the most beautiful areas of Almaty, and, with an area of 100 hectares, is the largest campus in Kazakhstan. It lies between Timiryazev Street, Al-Farabi Avenue, and the Vesnovka River.

The main building of Kazgugrad is 15 stories tall and hosts the university administration, as well as the history, economics, law, philology, and journalism departments. The campus consists of thirteen educational buildings with a total area of 165,000 m2 and scientific laboratories with a total area of 18,940 m2. The campus also contains seventeen dormitories.

In a second, smaller campus located at the intersection of Karasay Batyr and Masanchi streets, there are four more departments: Philosophy and Political Science, Oriental Studies, Preparatory, and International Relations. The Physics, Mechanics-Mathematics and chemistry departments were formerly located on the second campus; in 2011 they moved to newly constructed buildings on the first campus.

History

Al-Farabi Kazakh National University officially opened on January 15, 1934. It was established by the decree of the Council of Peoples’ Commissars of the USSR and Kazakh Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

In January 1934, the first entrance exams in the faculties of Biology, Physics, and Mathematics were held. In September, they were held in the Faculty of Chemistry. In 1937, the first Faculty of Humanities, the Faculty of Foreign Languages, was established; a year later, the Faculty was merged into the Faculty of Philology. In May 1941, the Faculty of Journalism was established after KazNU merged with the University of the Kazakh Communist Institute of Journalism.

After the Second World War, new faculties were opened. In August 1947, the Faculty of Geography was established and, in 1949, the faculties of Philosophy and Economics. The Faculty of Law was established in 1955 after KazNU merged with the Alma-Ata Institute of Law.

During the same period, a strong scientific educational and methodological base also emerged at the university. By the mid-1980s, there were 98 departments, 43 scientific research laboratories and 9 scientific research groups at KazNU. The faculty staff consisted of 1,180 people; among them were professors and lecturers, 30 academicians, AS KazSSR correspondent members, more than 100 doctorate degree holders, and more than 600 Candidates of Science. They were trained on 21 specialties and 74 specializations.

Faculties

Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology

The Faculty of Biology is the oldest faculty in the university, having existed since the school's founding. In accordance with its conducted scientific research and modern educational programs of training specialists, it has been renamed the Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology. Today, it is a major innovative scientific and educational center, where both students and teachers are involved in conducting fundamental and applied research in 2 research institutes (Biology and Biotechnology Problems and Environmental Problems). The faculty has 4 departments: Biodiversity and Bioresources, Biotechnology, Molecular Biology and Genetics, and Biophysics and Biomedicine, in addition to a Bio clinic and Aerobiological Station. An important subdivision of the faculty is the Biological Museum, which contains more than five thousand endemic and rare specimens, which are unique objects of research.

Faculty of Physics and Technology

The Faculty of Physics and Technology is a continuation of the traditions of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, one of the first departments of the university. Today, the faculty is the includes three research institutes.

Under the guidance of highly qualified teaching staff, students receive fundamental education in three languages, Kazakh, Russian, and English, and from early courses are actively involved in research on topical issues of modern physics and technology within the framework of established scientific schools. The faculty has developed entirely new curricula that correspond to the programs of the world's leading universities, created an innovative chain to accompany the development of scientific and technological research from ideas to their implementation, and has increased the number of research programs, creating new courses in the most relevant areas of specialist training, expanding the faculty's material base.

Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology

The Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, which opened in 1934, was one KazNU's first departments. The faculty occupies a separate 5-storey academic building and has two research institutes. Training is conducted in 3 languages (Kazakh, Russian, and English) in 70 laboratories and 4 computer labs equipped with modern equipment. Specialists are trained by highly qualified lecturers, including 45 Doctors of Sciences, 85 Candidates of Sciences and 40 Doctors of Philosophy. All of this faculty's Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate programs are accredited by the German ASIIN agency. The faculty trains specialists under 2 diploma programs with Belgorod Uni varsity, the Chinese University of Oil, Taipei University, Saitama University, D. I. Mendeleev Russian Chemical Technology University, and Ufa Petroleum Technical University. Graduates can take courses in Lyon-1 (France), Valencia (Spain), Poland, and Romania, among others places. Students of the faculty have internships at companies in the chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, and metallurgical industries, such as Karachaganak Petroleum Operating JSC, Atyrau Oil Refinery LLP, CNPS-Aktobemunaigas JSC, KazPhosphat LLP, STC KazTransOil JSC, TsinKaz LLP, DorPlast Invest LLP, and Zerde-Fito LLP.

Research Institutes

KazNU also has research institutes, including the:

• Institute of State and Law
• Research Institute of Experimental and Theoretical Physics (RI of ETF)
• Research Institute of New Chemical Technologies and Materials (RI of NCTM)
• Center of Physical and Chemical Methods of Research and Analysis (CPCMA)
• Research Institute of Biology and Biotechnology (RI of BB)
• Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS)
• Confucius Institute
• Science and Technology Park (Technopark)
• National Open Nanotechnology Laboratory (NONL)

Rankings

In 2009, KazNU was included in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings' list of the 600 best higher institutions in the world, out of a total of 16,000 participants. At the time, more than 20,000 students from various countries studied at KazNU.

KazNU was ranked 18th among countries of the emerging Europe and central Asia region in the 2020 QS EECA University Rankings and 150th worldwide in the 2023 QS World University Rankings.

Partner universities

• Dongguk University
• Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
• Pusan University of Foreign Studies
• Soongsil University
• Catholic University of Daegu
• Ching Yun University
• Open International University for Complementary Medicines

Notable alumni

• Kairat Abdrakhmanov, Kazakhstan's Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Murat Aitkhozhin, President of the Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences
• Yerik Asanbayev, former vice president of Kazakhstan
• Oralkhan Bokeev, Kazakh writer
• Gulzhana Karagusova, Kazakhstan's Minister of Social Justice
• Abish Kekilbayev, Chairman of the Republic of Kazakhstan Supreme Soviet and Secretary of State of Kazakhstan
• Aigul Kemelbayeva, Kazakh writer
• German Kim, chair of the Department of Korean Studies and one of the leading internationally recognized scholars of the Koryo-saram
• Michał Łabenda, Polish ambassador to Azerbaijan, Mongolia and Egypt
• Mukhtar Magauin, Kazakh writer and publicist
• Fuat Mansurov, Kazakh mathematician and conductor
• Aliya Moldabekova, Kazakh central bank officer
• Gulzhan Moldazhanova, Kazakh businesswoman
• Maksut Narikbaev, Chairman of the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan
• Oleg Novachuk, Kazakh businessman, currently Chief Executive of Kazakhmys

Эх сурвалж: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)