| # | University | City | World rank | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nazarbayev University | #0 | 464,361 | |
| 2 | Al-Farabi Kazakh National University | #0 | 268,931 | |
| 3 | Kazakh British Technical University | #0 | 30,882 | |
| 4 | Abai State University | #0 | 26,432 | |
| 5 | University of International Business | #0 | 22,902 | |
| 6 | Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics, and Strategic Research | #0 | 22,607 | |
| 7 | Semey State Medical University | #0 | 20,821 | |
| 8 | East Kazakstan State Technical University | #0 | 17,557 | |
| 9 | Karaganda State Technical University | #0 | 16,574 | |
| 10 | Abylai Khan University | #0 | 1,705 | |
| 11 | Kazak American University | #0 | 1,533 | |
| 12 | Zhezkazgan Baikonurov University | #0 | 338 | |
| 13 | L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University | #317 (2026) | 159,715 | |
| 14 | Suleyman Demirel University | not ranked | 90,673 |
What the two columns mean
World rank is the university's QS World University Rankings position. Citations are the number of times work published by the university has been cited, as recorded in OpenAlex; it is the measure used to order universities that QS does not rank at all.
The two do not always agree. A large research university can out-cite a smaller one that sits above it in QS, because QS weighs reputation surveys and staff ratios as well as research.