Innotech: the University Reversed. A New Model of International University – First Time in Kazakhstan
The four years needed to complete an undergraduate degree is a long time in the industry, within which it can dramatically alter its entire demeanor. New technologies emerge, professions transform, certain skills lose relevance, and employers begin searching for competencies that did not even exist a few years ago. This creates one of the primary challenges for higher education: universities can no longer afford to update themselves at a slower pace than the economy. The response to this challenge comes in the form of a new university model – the University of Innovation and Technology (Innotech), which opened this spring in Almaty and was established in strategic partnership with Arizona State University.
Innotech is a powerful international project in Kazakhstan's higher education space. However, the interest lies not only in the mere fact of its emergence, but in the experiment behind it: can a university be established from the ground referring to the requirements of the future economy, technologies, and graduate competencies?
Innotech – A New International University
Innotech is not a branch of a foreign university. It is an independent private international university created in Kazakhstan and tailored to the economic, technological, and workforce needs of the country and, more broadly, Central Asia.
Arizona State University (ASU) serves as the university's strategic academic partner. Innotech’s programs aare developed using ASU's academic standards and learning design principles; faculty gain access to professional development and academic support resources; and international educational pathways (3+1, 4+1, and 1+1) are provided for students who meet the relevant requirements.
The partner itself conveys the scale of the model. Arizona State University ranks #1 in the U.S. for innovation according to U.S. News & World Report (11 years, 2016–26), ASU Online serves over 100,000 students across more than 350 programs, and the university's research volume exceeds $1 billion. Key research areas include artificial intelligence, sustainable development, and space technology.
At the same time, Innotech retains its own academic governance and remains independently responsible for the quality of education provided in accordance with the laws of Kazakhstan.
Innotech’s Educational Programs: From Technological Solutions to Global Logistics
Cybersecurity is one of Innotech’s top priorities, yet its academic model extends significantly further.
Innotech’s academic tracks are formed around several major economic shifts: digitalization, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, international business, analytics, and new global supply chains. Further plans include expanding the academic portfolio into engineering, public health, and innovation.
The logic here centers on creating an environment at the intersection of technology and business. For example, artificial intelligence is viewed simultaneously as a technological field and as a tool for corporate transformation. Cybersecurity is linked to digital infrastructure development, Computer Science to building technological solutions themselves, and international business and logistics to their implementation and scaling.
Backward Design
The most compelling aspect of Innotech’s academic model begins with the Industry-First Learning approach.
Under traditional logic, a university forms a set of disciplines, distributes them across semesters, and then determines how to test the knowledge acquired by the student.
At Innotech, this sequence is effectively inverted.
First, the academic and professional competencies a graduate must possess are defined. Next, assignments are designed to assess these competencies. Only after that a learning activity is determined to lead the student to the required outcome.
In Innotech’s academic policy, this principle is codified as a backward design methodology.
Consequently, the question "which courses did the student attend?" becomes far less important than "what is the graduate capable of doing?"
Industry Enters the Classroom
The most complex aspect of the Industry-First approach is ensuring that the link to industry does not remain mere phrasing in a strategy document. In the Innotech model, the employer appears as early as the program design stage. Every academic program undergoes industry validation involving employers, professional associations, and practitioners. Internships, real-world projects, industry mentorship, and employer participation in curriculum development become an integral part of the educational process.
The academic program in cybersecurity provides a concrete example of how this model is implemented in practice.
Innotech and TSARKA Group signed a cooperation agreement providing for joint educational and research initiatives, organizing student internships and practical training, conducting expert lectures and industry events, as well as involving TSARKA Group representatives in curriculum development aligned with current market needs.
А cybersecurity student will be able to engage in the classroom with professionals whose daily work involves real-world attacks, vulnerabilities, pentesting, and incident response.
This represents the practical expression of the Industry-First: the professional environment enters the university at the curriculum development stage, accompanies the students throughout their studies, and creates opportunities to gain hands-on industry experience.
Active Learning Over Slide Presentations
Transforming the model requires rethinking of what happens inside the classroom. Innotech’s academic policy explicitly establishes that teaching consisting predominantly of reading presentation slides without student engagement or practical application of the material is unacceptable. Every class session must include at least one active learning activity: a case study, problem-solving, group work, an applied exercise, or peer assessment.
The assessment system is changing as well. The maximum weight of a single assignment or final exam is capped at 40%. A semester course must feature a minimum of three distinct graded assessments, and at least 20% of the program's assignments per academic year must be applied or project-based.
AI as a Foundational Literacy
Artificial intelligence occupies a special place in the Innotech model. The university proceeds from the premise that AI is becoming part of the professional demeanor virtually regardless of specialty. Therefore, digital and AI competence is included in the official set of graduate attributes alongside analytical thinking, communication, entrepreneurship, cross-cultural effectiveness, ethical thinking, and innovative mindset.
Instead of a blanket ban on AI, Innotech envisions a three-tier framework for its usage.
In certain assignments, AI is permitted as a supporting tool provided its use is disclosed. In others, it may be used for research purposes, but not for generating the final submission. In examinations, theses, and other forms of independent work, its use may be prohibited.
Thus, the question shifts from "did the student use AI?" to "does the student know how to use AI professionally, critically, and responsibly?"
From Almaty to Alatau City
Innotech’s long-term ambitions extend beyond educational programs. It forms part of the Alatau City development project and is envisioned as a component of the future scientific, educational, and innovation cluster. Innotech’s role is tied to workforce development, research advancement, and technology transfer.
During the initial phase, the urban campus ensures proximity to employers, business, and Almaty's professional community.
Subsequently, plans call for developing a flagship campus in the city of Alatau – currently being established near Almaty – featuring research infrastructure, advanced laboratories, and opportunities for interdisciplinary work and technological development.
An innovative city cannot be built solely through the construction of data centers and tech company offices. A sustainable ecosystem requires an engine that continuously generates human capital, knowledge, entrepreneurs, and new ideas. Innotech has the potential to fulfill precisely this role for Alatau City.
200 Grants – 200 Opportunities
The state's decision to invest in educating the country's youth at Innotech should be viewed more broadly than a standard government education contract. It represents an opportunity to test the model in action – a model already clearly visible in Innotech’s cybersecurity program. The state funds the training of specialists in a strategically vital technological field; Innotech Powered by Arizona State University builds the academic environment and educational model connecting Kazakhstan’s requirements with international academic approaches; and representatives of Kazakhstan's industry participate in the students’ training process.
This framework is particularly critical for rapidly evolving fields. Technologies can evolve faster than a student can earn a degree. Therefore, it is necessary to teach students how to navigate a constantly shifting technological environment.
Employers gain an opportunity to observe future specialists over four years: assigning them real-world tasks, involving them in projects, evaluating their work in practice, and selecting the best talent. Consequently, for some students, their first job offer may emerge long before graduation.
Practice in such a model starts with real company case studies in the classroom, progresses to projects and internships, and gradually transitions into employment. Innotech’s primary benchmark of success a few years down the line will not be the percentage of employed graduates – far more important to see how many students have started their professional careers while still studying, what real-world problems they solved, and how many original technologies, products, and companies emerged from this environment.
When the model bears fruit, Innotech’s experience will reach far beyond a single university. The 200 state cybersecurity grants can be viewed as the government's initial investment in a broader hypothesis: can Kazakhstan unite state priorities, international university expertise, and its own tech industry into a unified system for developing the human capital? And then the central question will no longer be "which foreign universities are coming to Kazakhstan?", but rather "which university models created in Kazakhstan are ready to compete globally?"
Admission to the University of Innovation and Technology (Innotech)
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS
Bachelor’s Programs
• 6B06101 – Computer Science
• 6B06301 – Cybersecurity
Master’s Programs
• 7M04133 – Global Management
Courses are subject to change.
Please contact your Innotech advisor for plan of study related to your degree program.
Language of instruction
• English
Duration of study
• Bachelor’s degree – 4 years
• Master’s degree – 1.5 years
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS PLANNED FOR LAUNCH
Bachelor’s Programs
• 6B04101 – International Business / BBA AI in Business
• 6B04102 – BBA in Global Logistics
Master’s Programs
• 7M06110 – Computer Science
ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS
For tuition-based admission
• UNT – minimum score of 50
• All subject combinations except those requiring a creative examination
• Proof of English proficiency: IELTS 5.0 / TOEFL 4.0 / SAT 1000 / Placement Test 45 (Applicants may demonstrate English proficiency through international certificates or the university's internal placement test)
• Interview
Minimum requirements for participation in the State Educational Grant Competition
• UNT – minimum score of 75
• Profile subjects: Computer Science + Mathematics
• Proof of English proficiency: IELTS 6.0 / TOEFL 4.5 / SAT 1200 / Placement Test 45
• Interview
TUITION FEES AND SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
Bachelor’s degree
• USD 10,000 per year
• State educational grants are available for applicants from Kazakhstan
• International students – USD 15,000 per year
Master’s degree
• USD 15,000 per year
• International students – USD 22,500 per year
* Admission criteria and tuition fees are applicable to the 2026-27 academic year and are subject to change.
CONTACT INFORMATION
+7 777 590 07 25
21 Al-Farabi Ave., Almaty, Kazakhstan
Shyngys NURLANOV, Provost,
Zhansaya IMANGALI,
Director of External Relations,
Innotech powered by Arizona State University
ABSTRACT
Innotech University which opened this year in Almaty, is a powerful international higher education project in Kazakhstan based on the Industry-First Learning model, where educational programs are built entirely around industry needs and developed with the direct participation of employers. In the future, the university will be integrated into the Alatau City innovation cluster currently being established near Almaty.
Comments