Al-Farabi University

Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (Kazakh: Əл Фараби атындағы Қазақ Ұлттық Университеті/"Äl Farabi atındağı Qazaq Ülttık Universïteti"), also called KazGU or KazNU, is a university in Almaty, Kazakhstan. It is the country's primary and largest university.

The University was founded on January 15, 1934 as the S.M. Kirov State University, after revolutionary Sergey Kirov. One year after Kazakhstan's 1990 declaration of independence, the name was changed to Al-Farabi University. In 2001, the government classified it as a "national" university. As of 2005 it has approximately 16,000 students and over 1000 lecturers and professors spread over 105 departments. Like other universities founded under the Soviet system, it is highly centralized.

Location

The University has its own campus, the so called "Kazgugrad", located on the land between Timiryazev Street, Al-Farabi Avenue, the river "Yessentai" ("Vesnovka"), and the Botanical Garden. The main building (GUK)is 13 floors high, and hosts the administration, and also History, Economics, Law, Philology, and Journalism faculties.

There are also 10 dormitories on campus, and 3 more faculties: Geography, Biology, Preparatory and International Relations.

The faculties of Physics, Eastern Studies, Mechanics-Mathematics, Chemistry are located outside the campus.

Faculties

Kazakh National University has 13 faculties.

Geography Faculty

Partner universities

*flagicon|Taiwan Ching Yun University, Taiwan

Notable alumni

*Gulzhana Karagusova, Kazakhstan's Minister of Social Justice
*Baurzhan Mukhamedjanov, Kazakhstan's Minister of Internal Affairs
*German Kim, head of the Department of Korean Studies and one of the leading internationally-recognised scholars of the Koryo-saram
*Zhanseit Tuimebayev, Kazakhstan's Minister of Education and former ambassador to Russia

External links

* [http://www.kazsu.kz/english.aspx Official homepage]