Kazakhstan has risen in three world rankings at once

Tengrinews.kz — Kazakhstan has improved its standing in three international rankings evaluating innovation, higher education, and skills.

Innovation ranking: up eight positions

Kazakhstan climbed eight spots to reach 73rd globally in the WIPO 2026 Global Innovation Index, marking the country's best performance in a decade. Within the Central and Southern Asia subregion, Kazakhstan ranked second, trailing only India. Researchers attribute Kazakhstan's progress to ongoing reforms in science, technology, and innovation.

Kazakhstani university enters global top for the first time

Significant shifts were also recorded in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2027. Nazarbayev University entered the global top 400 for the first time, placing in the 376–400 range. Additionally, NU was ranked as the top university across the CIS, Central Asia, and the Caucasus.

A total of 10 Kazakhstani universities made the THE 2027 list, doubling the previous year's count. Kazakhstan also emerged as a regional leader in terms of the number of represented institutions. By comparison, Uzbekistan had eight universities in the ranking, Azerbaijan five, Georgia three, and Armenia one.

Another milestone was reached in medical education. Asfendiyarov Kazakh National Medical University entered the THE world rankings for the first time, placing in the 1201–1400 range. It became the first medical university in Central Asia to be featured in the index.

Kazakhstan enters new AI and human skills index

Kazakhstan also demonstrated strong results in Coursera's Global Skills Report 2026.

In the new AI-Human Skills Synergy Index, which evaluates the combination of artificial intelligence proficiency and human competencies, Kazakhstan ranked 55th out of 98 countries.

Kazakhstan outperformed Azerbaijan by 10 positions (65th) and Uzbekistan (93rd) in the ranking.

The Coursera report specifically highlighted the Kazakhstani case study of the AI-SANA national project.

Note:AI-SANA is an innovative program aimed at training artificial intelligence specialists. The project involves 100 universities and over 1,200 trained faculty members, and is cited in the report as an example of state-led transformation of higher education through AI.