Nazarbayev Intellectual School -, Almaty

In Brief

Quick heads-up before anything else. NIS isn't an international school in the usual expat sense. It's a state-funded, highly selective Kazakhstani school for local talent — taught trilingually in Kazakh, Russian and English. Entry is by competitive exam at Grade 7, and the test is hard enough that most successful families pay for prep courses for a year or more. If your friend's children don't already speak Kazakh or Russian, this is almost certainly not the right fit, and they should be looking at Haileybury Almaty, Miras, KIS or QSI instead.

If they do qualify, the upside is real. Academically it's one of the strongest schools in the country. Graduates land at Nazarbayev University, top Kazakh universities, and a meaningful number at UK and US universities — the NIS Grade 12 Certificate is recognised by UCAS. PISA results for NIS students sit well above the national average.

The flavour of the place. It's intense and exam-driven. According to one parent group writing on the wider NIS network, families who get in are often the ones who can afford long preparation courses, which has shifted the intake towards wealthier urban families. Days are long and structured. Alumni research has noted students sometimes arrive at university over-supported — one graduate said they "prepared homework at school and could ask the teachers anything that we did not understand," which is great until it isn't.

Staff side. Mixed. Some international teachers rate it highly — "very good, respectful and gifted students," as one put it on Glassdoor — and salaries plus cheap cost of living make it attractive. Others describe hierarchical management and contract friction. Turnover among foreign hires can be high.

Bottom line for your friend. If the kids are Kazakh/Russian speakers and academically strong, NIS Almaty is genuinely excellent and almost free. If not, it's the wrong school — point them at the international schools in Almaty instead.