Foundation

Applicants must go through the online application to participate in the competition:

If you experience any difficulties with the application send an email to info_admissions@old.nu.edu.kz. Do not forget to provide a detailed description of the problem, your IIN (for citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan) and Applicant ID number.

Watch below the instructional video with an example of completing the application form for the Foundation program. Some details can differ from the last application version. Please note that personal details given in the application form are fictional.

• Instructional video with a sample application form for the Foundation program

Applicants meeting the following eligibility criteria can take part in the competition:

1. Students in the final year of secondary education institutions, technical, vocational, post-secondary and higher education institutions;
2. Students studying in higher education institutions;
3. Graduates from secondary, post-secondary or higher education institutions.

The selection process consists of the following stages:

• Stage I. Submission of the online applications. September–November;
• Stage II. Entrance exam. February–March;
• Stage III.Consideration of Applicants’ files. April–May;
• Admission. May-July*;
• Documents submission. Upon request of the University. June–July*.

*Applicants from the waiting list may receive an admission offer if vacant places become available until the start of the classes.

Applicants who failed to receive minimum passing scores cannot progress to the next stages and will be excluded from the competition.

Minimum requirements of language test results:

• Academic IELTS minimum requirements: overall score of 6.0, (5.0 in each of the sections)
• TOEFL iBT minimum requirements: overall score - 60, writing - 16, reading - 6, speaking - 15, listening - 5.
• Linguaskill minimum requirements: overall score - 170, in each section - 161. Certificate is considered without superscoring. A collective certificate with the best scores for each section is not accepted. Detailed information is available in the “Useful resources” section;
• All provided certificates must be valid by August 1, 2022 - the beginning of the respective academic year;
• Deadline submission of IELTS/TOEFL/Linguaskill certificates is available in the “Important dates” section;
• TOEFL iBT Home Edition and TOEFL PDT results are not considered in the competition;
• IELTS/TOEFL/Linguaskill tests must be taken in person at the Test Center (not remotely).
• Only applicants who provide IELTS/TOEFL/Linguaskill results, which meet minimum requirements and within the specified deadline, can be allowed to take NUET exam (see below).

NUET (Nazarbayev University Entrance Test) – test that evaluates academic training for studying at the University.

• NUET is held in 2 subject sections - Mathematics and Critical Thinking & Problem Solving.
• Number of questions – 60.
• Test content – multiple-choice questions.
• Test duration – 120 minutes. Minimum passing score – 120 in total for 2 subjects, while minimum passing score for each of the subjects shall not be less than 50. For example, 50 + 70 = 120 – is a minimum passing score in total.
• In case of applying for both Foundation program and undergraduate programs according to the “NUET applicants” category, an applicant is invited to the test once and takes it 1 time. Therefore, it is important to indicate in the application forms the same city for passing the test. Foundation and undergraduate programs’ Admission Committees will consider the results of one exam.
• Test results are available in 6 weeks in a Personal account.
• The number of tasks and duration of the entry examination are subject for change by Test administrators.
• Information about access to the entry examination is placed in the applicant’s Personal account.
• Applicants are informed about examination date and venue, information on format , as well as required documents and Rules of conduct during the examination via email one week prior to the exams.
• Examination schedule is published in the “Important dates” section.
• If a violation of rules or conditions of passing the test occurs, the applicant's results are cancelled. In this case, the applicant is excluded from the competition. Disqualified applicants will not be able to enroll to NU in the future.
• There is no appeal procedure.
• NUET for NUFYP applicants is free of charge.

Online application period: September 26, 2021 – December 6, 2021

• The deadline for the submission of IELTS/TOEFL/Linguaskill certificates: March 1, 2022
• Entry examination - NUET: April 3, 10 and 17, 2022
  
  

  Exam date	City
  April 3, 2022	Almaty
  	Nur-Sultan*
  April 10, 2022	Aktau
  	Atyrau
  	Petropavlovsk
  	Pavlodar
  	Semey
  	Taldykorgan
  	Kokshetau
  	Shymkent
  April 17, 2022	Aktobe
  	Karaganda
  	Uralsk
  	Ust-Kamenogorsk
  	Taraz
  	Kyzylorda
  	Kostanay
  	Nur-Sultan*

  
  * One group of applicants will take the exam on April 3, 2022, another group on April 17, 2022. The corresponding date of the exam for applicants taking it in Nur-Sultan will be indicated in the invitation to the exam.
• Submission of additional IELTS/TOEFL/Linguaskill certificates: April 25, 2022
• Admission: May–July
• Submission of hard copies of documents: upon request, June–July
• Orientation week : to be announced
• Start of classes : to be announced
• Dates of admission to study on a fee-paying basis are published in the “Enrollment on a fee-paying basis” section.

• Applicants, who did not pass the previous stage of the competition, will not be allowed to participate in the next stage;
• At the third stage the Admission Committee composes the ranking of applicants based on the NUET and IELTS/TOEFL/Linguaskill results. Priority is given to the applicants with the highest overall NUET score. If applicants have identical NUET results, the priority will be given to the applicants with the highest scores in “Mathematics”. If “Mathematics” results are equal, the priority will be given to applicants with the highest scores of the language test. If the overall score of the language test is equal, the priority will be given to applicants with the highest scores in sections in the following priority - writing, reading, speaking, listening. Based on the approved number of seats the Admission Committee recommends applicants for admission to the Center for Preparatory Studies of Nazarbayev University.
• The applicants not included in the enrollment list under “Nazarbayev University '' state grant but meeting the admission requirements shall be put in a waiting list. In case of a vacant place in the list of applicants recommended for admission, applicants from the waiting list may be recommended by the Admission Committee for admission to study at the Center for Preparatory Studies. Applicants in the waiting list can also be offered an opportunity to participate in the competition for admission on a fee-paying basis.
• Successful completion of the admission stages does not guarantee admission to the Center for Preparatory Studies of the University.

Description of the status assigned to the applicant at every competition stage

All registered applicants can check the status of their application in the Personal account. Description of the status below is presented in the order of assignment to the applicant in the Personal account.

Application in processing. This is interim status, which means that the application is being processed. Admissions Department will check the application package and inform the applicant on further steps, if necessary.

Needs to take NUET. This status is given to applicants before the NUET exam to notify about the necessity to take the test. The invitation with instructions will be sent to applicant’s email about 5 days prior to the exam. The exam schedule is available in the “Important dates” section.

Not allowed to take NUET. The applicant was excluded from the admission competition due to non-compliance or violations of the competition conditions before the exam. He/she terminates the participation in the enrollment competition.

Passed NUET. Successfully passed the Nazarbayev University Entrance Test and received passing scores.

Failed NUET. The applicant failed to score a required NUET passing mark. He/she terminates the participation in the enrollment competition.

Missed NUET. Didn't show up at NUET. He/she terminates the participation in the enrollment competition.

Meeting entry examinations minimum requirements. Applicant’s documents and his/her scores meet the minimum entry requirements of the competition. Applicants with this status will be included into the final ranking and are advised to wait for a notification from the University. If he/she has high scores in the exams, then there is a high probability that he/she will soon receive an admission offer. If the scores are low, it is advised to wait for the next notification. If seats are vacated, admission offers can be sent.

Withdrawn. The applicant refused to participate in the admission competition at his/her own request. It can be put down at any time from the beginning of the competition.

Recommended for admission. Recommended for enrollment by the decision of the Admissions Committee and will receive an admission offer with the conditions for enrollment.

Waiting list. Applicant is not included in the number of recipients of the invitation due to a low ranking. Nonetheless, there is a chance that offers may be sent if one of the previously recommended applicants refuses to enroll. In case there are no more vacant seats, the applicant will be rejected.

Accepted admission offer. Applicant accepted the admission offer within the specified period and submitted enrollment confirmation form and paid the guarantee fee. Further conditions for enrollment:

1. Payment of the guarantee fee.
2. Submission of the required documents.
3. Signing the contract on educational services.
4. Participation in the orientation week held by the Center for Preparatory Studies for newly arrived students.

Refused admission offer. Applicant filled out the form and indicated refusal from enrollment after receiving the admission offer or did not fulfill the conditions of enrollment

Refused in favor of UG. This status is available to the applicants applied both to NUFYP and undergraduate programs. This status is given to the applicant who rejected to study in the NUFYP in favor of the undergraduate program. It is given after the written refusal of the applicant to study at the NUFYP or if the applicant was on the waiting list and before receiving the letter of invitation to the NUFYP, confirmed his admission to the undergraduate program. In this latter case, the offer letter is not sent.

Rejected by Admissions Committee. Rejected by the Admissions Committee due to the absence of vacant places for enrollment and based on the completion of the selection.

Guarantee fee paid. The applicant paid the guarantee fee after receiving the admission offer.

Did not submit the documents/Refused. The applicant did not provide the documents within the specified period. This means that the applicant refuses to study at the University.

Did not come to Orientation week/Refused. Failed to show up for Orientation Week, which means the applicant refuses to study at the University.

Enrolled. Applicant officially enrolled to the University by the Provost's decision. This status is given after registration of the Provost’s decision. This is a final status as an applicant before transition to a student status.

Disqualified. Disqualified due to violations of regulations and conditions in the exam or in the competition. For example, he/she cheated on an exam or provided deliberately false information.

Enrollment of the applicants to Nazarbayev University is implemented in the following sequence:

1) Recommendation for admission. Status of recommended applicants will be changed to “Recommended for admission”. In the “Admission results” section of Personal account applicants will see the Admission offer and other necessary documents. Instructions for documents submission to University will be sent to recommended applicants’ email addresses with deadlines and requirements;

2) Admission confirmation. Applicants recommended for admission by the Admission Committee shall pay the Guarantee Fee in the amount of 30 000 tenge and sign Enrollment Confirmation Form and Form of Consent on Guarantee Fee Payment in Personal account. The Guarantee Fee will be returned to the Applicant after he or she signs an agreement and starts the classes at NU;

3) Submission of documents and signing an agreement. The applicants shall submit required documents to NU departments within the dates indicated in the Notification letter. Therefore, please, make sure to read the Notification letter very carefully in order to meet the requirements and deadlines. All the hard and soft copies of documents should be submitted to the University within the deadlines. The applicants also sign an agreement with the Center for Preparatory studies;

4) Participation in an orientation week. Before the start of the classes, all applicants take part in an orientation week;

5) Enrollment. After fulfilling the above mentioned requirements, applicants are enrolled in the University. Enrollment of Applicants is legalized by the decision of the University Provost.

A package of documents for enrollment to the University to be submitted by the applicant to the Admissions Department will be indicated in the Instructions for documents submission.

If the original of the secondary school education diploma with transcript is not in Kazakh, Russian or English, it is required to provide a scanned version of a notarized translation of this document into English in addition. Failure to provide the required documents in time will result in applicant’s disqualification from further participation in the competition.

University has the right to request additional documents from foreign citizens or stateless individuals.

IMPORTANT NOTE. All documents submitted to NU are not subject to return. An exception is an official original of the secondary school (аттестат с приложением), technical, vocational, or post-secondary diploma (диплом с приложением) with transcript , which is returned after completion of studies or withdrawal from the University.

Online application for a fee-paying basis: March 1, 2022 - June 30, 2022

Following applicants can participate in the selection process for the enrollment on a fee-paying basis:

• those who took part in the selection process of the current year for state educational grants and were included in the waiting list without receiving a grant;
• those who register on the admissions.nu.edu.kz portal and independently passed IELTS/TOEFL/Linguaskill and SAT/ACT with results meeting the minimum admission requirements indicated below:

* TOEFL iBT Home Edition and TOEFL PDT results are not considered in the competition.

IELTS/TOEFL/Linguaskill tests must be taken in person at the Test Center (not remotely). Linguaskill certificate is considered without superscoring. A collective certificate with the best scores for each section is not accepted.

The tests should be sent to the University address via test administrator using the Nazarbayev University code (Institutional Code):

• Nazarbayev University – for IELTS
• 6762 – for TOEFL
• Nazarbayev University - for Linguaskill
• 7915 – for SAT
• 5521 – for ACT

Detailed Instruction on provision of IELTS/TOEFL certificates is available in applicants’ Personal account.

All provided certificates must be valid by August 1, 2022 - the beginning of the respective academic year. The terms of expiration of test results are provided by the respective official websites of each test, except SAT certificates. Within this admission competition, the SAT certificate expiration period is 3 years.

Deadline for submission of IELTS/TOEFL/Linguaskill and SAT/ACT results: July 11, 2022

Admission: July, 2022

Submission of hard copies of documents: upon request, July, 2022

Information about enrollment is available in the “Enrollment” section.

A package of documents for enrollment on a fee-paying basis to the University to be submitted by the applicant to the Admissions Department will be indicated in the Instructions for documents submission.

If the original of the secondary school education diploma with transcript is not in Kazakh, Russian or English, additionally it is necessary to provide a scanned version of a notarized translation of this document into English. Failure to provide the required documents in time will result in applicant’s disqualification from further participation in the competition.

University has the right to request additional documents from foreign citizens or stateless individuals.

All documents submitted to NU are not subject to return. An exception is an official original of the secondary school (аттестат с приложением), technical, vocational, or post-secondary diploma (диплом с приложением) with transcript, which is returned after completion of studies or withdrawal from the University.