Leading institution of higher education of Kazakhstan, and one of the top university of Central Asia Al-Farabi Kazakh National University has celebrated the 85th anniversary in 2019. In the frames of celebrating this solemn date, the university held QS Worldwide Conference, Silkroad Universities Network, V General Assembly, Workshop for University Social Responsibility Network and Global Youth Forum in September 2019 that had gathered where academicians from all over the world.

Today, the alumni of KazNU includes not only leading academicians of Kazakhstan, but also great number of ministers, governors, top managers, members of Parliament, CEOs of National corporations and Olympic Champions.

Al-Farabi KazNU is the leader of the National Rankings among the universities of Kazakhstan. The university was the first laureate of the Presidential Award of the Republic of Kazakhstan “For Achievements in the Area of Quality” and laureate of the Award of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) for achievements in the area of quality and services in the history of the country. Al-Farabi KazNU was ranked 165 in the QS World University Rankings 2019/20, making it Kazakhstan’s highest ranked university. Al-Farabi KazNU is ranked 18th in the Emerging Europe and Central Asia (EECA) University Rankings. The university is a member of the following international organizations:  the International Association of Universities, European Society for Engineering Education, the international Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience and International Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence, and the Indo-US Collaboration for Engineering Education.

It was first among Central Asian universities to join the UN “Academic Impact” (UNAI) program and to become the Global HUB of UNAI on sustainability, aimed at supporting 10 internationally recognized principles of the UN. By the decision of United Nations Academic Impact program Al-Farabi KazNU will continue to lead the Global Hub of the UN Academic Impact Program on Sustainable Development for the fourth consecutive term until 2021.

In collaboration with the UN Information Office in Kazakhstan, Al-Farabi KazNU has joined the Global Model UN movement and established its flagship students-led program “The UN Model – the New Silk Road”. In May 2018, Al-Farabi KazNU has launched the Ban Ki-moon Institute for Sustainable Development to coordinate all teaching and research activities of researchers and teaching staff in the area of sustainable development and green economy.

Al-Farabi Kazakh National University was awarded the prestigious international award «Global Islamic Finance Awards 2020» (GIFA) in recognition of its achievements and contribution to the development of education in Islamic finance. The leading Kazakhstani University became the best in the category of «Best Emerging Islamic Finance Education Provider». The award ceremony was held in Islamabad (Pakistan). 

The University is a member of the following international organizations:  the International Association of Universities, European Society for Engineering Education, the international Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience and International Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence, and the Indo-US Collaboration for Engineering Education.

The University has established “Al-Farabi” centers in different countries all over the world, e.g. in Shahid Beheshti University (Iran), Tsukuba University (Japan), Beijing University of Foreign Studies and Shanghai University of Foreign Studies ​​(PRC), Istanbul University (Turkey), Jordan University (Jordan), University of Rostock (Germany), University of Karachi (Pakistan), Cairo University (Egypt), Belgorod State University (Russia) and Museum houses of Al-Farabi in Turkey and India.

In 2019, Al–Farabi KazNU once again successfully passed institutional accreditation. Over the course of many years, the university has been constantly ranked first among higher educational institutions of our country, based on the results of the general ranking of higher educational institutions according to the version of the Independent Agency for Accreditation and Ranking (IAAR) and the Independent Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (IQAA).

Al–Farabi KazNU collaborates with international accreditation agencies such as ASIIN, ACQUIN, AQA and FIBAA. Once every three years, educational programs undergo an international accreditation. A number of educational programs of the university were awarded the European Quality Mark “Euro Label”.

In 2018, KazNU took the 10th place among the 200 universities within the Eastern Europe and Central Asia according to the QS University Rankings (QS University Rankings EECA 2018). According to the results of QS “WUR by Subject” ranking, the university entered the group of 101–150 of the best higher educational institutions in the world for the “Modern Linguistics” educational program.

KazNU takes 216th place among 780 higher educational institutions from 78 countries in the global ranking by “UI Green Metric Ranking of World Universities”, which assesses environmental credentials of universities.

According to the reputable world ranking “Times Higher Education” (THE), the university has entered the group of 201–250 best universities in developing countries. This ranking considers such indicators as effectiveness of scientific and educational activities, capacity of the faculty staff, quality of research and studies being conducted, number of scientific publications and citation index, as well as results of international cooperation.

Al–Farabi KazNU is the first higher educational institution in Central Asia, which ranked 251 among 500 universities in the QS Graduate Employability Rankings. This ranking is based on assessment of a university reputation among employers, of professional achievements of its graduates, of partnerships with employers, of organization of interaction between employers and students, and of its graduate employment rate.

In 2015 the university established a new faculty – Faculty of Medicine – Higher School of Public health. In 2018, because of challenges of digitalization two departments of the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics were transformed into the separate Faculty of Information Technologies.

Nowadays, Al-Farabi KazNU has 16 schools, which offer 87 BA, 98 MA and 83 PhD educational programs in engineering, natural sciences, humanitarian and social sciences, medical sciences and economics. Also 4 Educational programs in MBA are available. KazNU enrolls the largest cohort of students in Kazakhstan on its campus in downtown Almaty City, overlooking the gorgeous mountains of Alatau. KazNU students showed the best results in Beijing-2008, London-2012 and Rio-2016 Olympic game Games.