Skip to the content
Compass
AboutWhat can I enter?Sign in

The guide

Close

Astana

Kazakhstan · Central Asia & the Caucasus

Government, state companies and Astana Hub, the tech park where most of the country's startup programmes and grants are run.

Who this suits, and who it doesn’t

Suits you if you want proximity to government, state industry and the national startup programmes, or a place at an English-taught university without leaving the country. Look elsewhere if you want creative industries or a dense product scene. That's Almaty.

The catch, and the way in

The catch

Heavily state and corporate; if you want a creative or product-led industry, Almaty is the livelier half of the country.

The way in

Nazarbayev University, Astana Hub's programmes, and the competitions local organisations post. Some of them land in your Opportunities list directly.

Living there

What living here is actually like

A planned, spacious, deliberately modern capital: wide avenues, new buildings, and a great deal of it built within living memory. The winter is the defining fact of life here and is severe by any standard; the city is organised around getting between heated buildings. Social life is smaller and more institutional than Almaty's, and much of it runs through work and university.

How the money works

Public-sector and state-corporate salaries are predictable and come with real benefits, which makes budgeting easier than in a startup economy. Housing is newer and easier to find than in Almaty. Heating and winter clothing are a genuine annual cost people from milder places underestimate.Described in shape rather than figures on purpose: rents and salaries move every year and we cannot keep numbers true, but what is expensive and what quietly eats income stays true for far longer.

The language you actually need

Kazakh has growing official weight here and Russian remains widely used in daily work; state and legal roles increasingly expect Kazakh. English is needed at Nazarbayev University, where teaching is in English, and in the international parts of the Hub.

The work that clusters here

The kinds of work Astana is a route into, each with what it actually involves, and what the catch is.

Who is named here

Not a ranking and not in order of merit. These are the places a subject is actually studied and taught at in this city, so you have something to search for.

  • Nazarbayev University

    • Engineering
    • Computer Science
    • Natural Sciences
    • Medicine & Health

    Degrees taught in English

Language of teaching moves within a cycle, so check it on the university’s own page for your own entry year.