The Capstone Year (Final Year)

Capstone training: What you‘ll do

  • Small group: Grammar, reading, writing, speaking, listening, and phonetics
  • Large group: Intercultural communication and language of academic research

Students can direct-enroll or audit content courses. Students who select direct-enrollment for credit need to confirm with their school or academic unit that the overseas coursework has an IU equivalent, and credits earned at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University will be transferred.

Past direct enrollment courses have included:

  • Human Rights on the World Stage and in Kazakhstan (Political Science)
  • Representations of International Conflicts in the Media (Journalism)
  • Translation and Comparative Linguistics (Philology and World Languages)
  • Integrated Water Resource Management and Sustainable Development (Geography and Environmental Studies)
  • Foundations of Bionanotechnology (Biology and Biomechanics)

There will also be optional conversational sessions with language partners.

In Almaty and around Kazakhstan, including trips to Aktau, Astana, Ust-Kamenogorsk, and even other locations in Central Asia, such as Turkestan.

A comfortable and private home-away-from-home where students apply their language skills in informal settings and different social contexts.

During their spring semester in Almaty, students complete internships with local organizations, such as NGOs, higher education, private companies, or state-run organizations (e.g. schools and museums). Past internship sites include:

  • KazNU Department of International Cooperation
  • Colibri Kazakhstan Law Firm
  • The Almaty Forestry Institute
  • The Cardiology Center
  • Price Waterhouse Cooper
  • Uranium One Inc.
  • Kazakhstani Fund for Cultural, Social and Educational Development
  • Association of Crisis Prevention Centers in Kazakhstan
  • Zhersu (industrial investment corporation)
  • Kazkommertsbank
  • Business and Power Newspaper
  • Television Channel Almaty
  • The Kasteyev State Museum of Arts
Students pose in front of the Almaty sign
capstone students posing in front of mountains and lake
students and children pose in front of statues
Students sitting around a table in a discussion group
Students standing around a news desk at a television studio
A student eating a meal with a host family