International schools in Kazakhstan

Search for the best international schools in Kazakhstan; you can find a list of selected schools at the bottom of this page. Use the search filters to select only girls' or boys' schools, prep schools, senior schools or sixth forms; or you can search for schools that offer a particular curriculum, such as the International Baccalaureate, the UK national curriculum, a US-style model or the International Primary Curriculum.

Kazakhstan’s international school sector began to develop after it declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The Central Asian republic is now home to at least 15 international schools, of which the vast majority are based in the city of Almaty and the capital Nur-Sultan.

The growing sector provides an array of English-medium schools offering the curriculums of Britain, the United States or the International Baccalaureate Organisation, as well as bi-lingual, dual-stream schools that also offer instruction in Kazakh or Russian and the Kazakh national curriculum. Coeducational day schooling is the norm. 

Among the oldest are Almaty International School, which was opened in 1993 by the Quality Schools International (QSI) group, and Miras International School Almaty, which was founded in 1995. Haileybury Almaty, which opened in 2008, was the first the sister campus of a British public school to be established in Central Asia. 

QSI now runs three schools across Kazakhstan, while Miras and Haileybury have both set up sister schools in Nur-Sultan. There are 13 IB World Schools, of which four, the International School of Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan International School and the two Miras international schools, are authorised to offer all three IB programmes.

Accrediting bodies active in Kazakhstan include the Council of International Schools, the Association of Christian Schools International, The Council of British International Schools and the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. 

Education is compulsory from age seven to 15 and state schools, which teach in Kazakh or Russian, are free to citizens and residents. Four years of primary education are followed by five years of lower secondary school. Higher secondary education, which is offered in general and vocational tracks, leads on to university and vocational colleges. 

Participation rates are high, with gross primary enrolment of 104 per cent and net secondary enrolment of 100 per cent in 2019. Some 62 per cent of young people progressed to some form of tertiary education the same year, with girls outnumbering boys.