The Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), one of Russia’s most prestigious universities and the flagship institution of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will open a branch in Astana in September 2025, according to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
The Astana branch, known as MGIMO-Astana, will initially offer two undergraduate programs: World Mineral Resources and Energy Markets and Analysis and Modeling of Socioeconomic and Business Processes. Two master’s degree programs will also be available: Financial Economics and Financial Technologies and Multilateral Institutions and Management of Global Technological Development.
Applicants will have the opportunity to apply for academic grants, though tuition-based enrolment will also be available. Instruction will be conducted by MGIMO professors from Moscow, complemented by local faculty trained in the university’s academic standards and methodologies.
MGIMO-Astana will initially operate from the campus of the L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, before moving to its own dedicated campus. Planning and design for the new facility are already underway.
This will be MGIMO’s second international branch. Its first overseas campus, MGIMO-Tashkent, opened in Uzbekistan and currently offers six undergraduate and graduate programs, all taught by MGIMO faculty and tailored to the local academic landscape.
As The Times of Central Asia previously reported, Cardiff University in Wales also plans to open a campus in Astana later this year, underscoring the Kazakh capital’s growing role as a regional hub for higher education.
