Abai University took 147th position in QS World University Rankings: Asia 2023

On November 8, 2022, the results of international rankings QS World University Rankings: Asia 2023 were published, in which Abai University was ranked 147 out of 760 participants and entered the top 20% of Asian universities. Abai University shows a decent result and get closer to the top 100 in Asia.

One of the most significant occurrences of our day is the rise of Asian universities and the shift from the periphery to the center of the global educational space. It should be clarified that while Kazakhstan was assessed in the QS EECA University Rankings sub-region in 2022, for the first time this year all Asian countries were combined into one large mega-region, including Japan, China, South Korea, and Southeast Asian countries, which are highly competitive on the world stage in the higher education system. Along with them, 32 universities from Kazakhstan also took part in ranking. Peking University, the National University of Singapore, and Tsinghua University (China) were the top three Asian universities.

Kazakh universities are confidently leading in the Central Asian region: Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, and Satbayev University, and Abai KazNPU is in fourth place. The closest neighboring countries are represented by the American University of Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan), the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers (Uzbekistan), and the Tajik National University (Tajikistan). The regional rating of Central Asia is closed by Karakalpak State University, Kazakh National Women`s Teacher Training University, and Tashkent State Pedagogical University named after Nizami.

QS ranking methodology is based on the analysis of such key indicators as «academic reputation», «employer reputation», «faculty student», «staff with a PhD», «citation per paper», «paper per faculty», «international research network», «international faculty and students», as well as «student exchanges» (inbound and outbound). The University received high rankings for three of them.

The best result in terms of the indicator «International teaching staff», took 61st place in the rating, which is largely due to the developed cooperation with foreign scientists, especially within the framework of the activities of the Sorbonne-Kazakhstan Institute.

In terms of the indicator «Faculty student» - 79. This indicator is indirect evidence of the university`s commitment to quality and evaluates the ratio of full-time faculty per hundred students. The greater the academic resource involved in the educational process, including teaching, mentoring, and curriculum development, the higher the quality of education.

It should be mentioned that the important indicator «academic reputation» which demonstrates the university`s stability and recognition in the global academic space, is also positively rated by the QS expert community in 84th place. Its evaluation is based on the use of a survey method among reputable scientists with publications in international journals that are indexed in the Scopus database. This year, the opinions of over 150 thousand scientists from around the world were weighed in order to determine the world`s leading universities in terms of research component.

In two categories, «student exchanges» (both inbound and outbound) and «employer reputation» were ranked 133 and 138, respectively. The development of academic mobility is one of indicators of the internationalization of university and allows students to integrate into international agenda of higher education. Future efforts should focus on improving the performance of outgoing academic mobility and pay attention to the issue of sufficient funding. We are aware that the university`s employer reputation is improving. First of all, this is seen in the demand for graduates with pedagogical specialties, which attests to the high caliber of the education offered. Today, university graduates work both in the most distant corners of the country and in large cities and neighboring Central Asian countries.

The university` s research activities show a dynamic of sustained development in the recent past. The number of international journal publications with a high impact factor and percentile, as well as their citations, is growing. Scientific productivity and the capacity of the university have increased markedly, and scientific connections are actively developing. According to the consolidated scientific indicators, the position obtained is 301+. This position reveals the future development vector: the international research network will be our point of development.

Abai University participated in the QS Asia University Rankings 2023 for the first time and demonstrated its stable position in the global higher education system. Based on this, at the regional and Central Asian levels, the university has realized its strategic vision to become a leader in pedagogical education, preparing teachers in a new formation. The university is also the undisputed leader in teacher education in Kazakhstan. The analysis of the results of the ranking evaluated strengths and weaknesses, on which the university would systematically and successively work to further improve performance and advance in the QS Asia international ranking of universities.