By a government decree, the Kazakh National Agrarian University was awarded the status of a research university. Also, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the university development program for 2020 - 2024 years.

The purpose of the approved program is the creation of a world-class national research university on the basis of KazNAU on the example of Nazarbayev University. Also, in its innovative development, the university is guided by the experience of the research university Wageningen (Netherlands), which is the number 1 university in the QS world ranking for agricultural specialties.

“A joint decision was made to establish the Wageningen Institute on the basis of KazNAU for two educational programs:“ Plant Science ”and“ Food Technologies ”. It is planned to recruit 50 students for each program, who will receive a quality education in English without leaving the country. Such joint training will make it possible to train at least 100 students annually that meet international standards and are in demand in the labor market, and broadcast the experience gained to other universities in the country, ” the document says.

According to preliminary calculations, the cost of training students will be 3.5 times cheaper than in the leading universities in the world. The same work is being carried out with the University of Eastern Finland and the Ohio State University (USA), a branch of which is planned to open on the basis of KazNAU.

As part of the transformation, the university introduced the positions of a teacher-researcher who carries out scientific projects and a teacher-consultant who provides consulting services to agricultural formations. Scientists from abroad, research institutes and production representatives will make up 20% of the staff of the teaching staff of the university, 57% of the heads of departments will be young PhD doctors.