The NU SOM Psychiatry residency program is a 3-year program designed to provide medical doctors with fundamental training in general psychiatry to become Psychiatrists who are able to work in hospital or outpatient settings.

The Program will provide the residents with the principal competencies and will enable them to practice Psychiatry in the different clinical state-of-the-art facilities under close supervision of academic faculty, and prepare them to seek advanced training if desired. An important feature of this program is the opportunity to conduct clinical and translational research, and prepare them to pursue an academic career.

The aims of the Psychiatry Residency Program are:

• To educate skilled specialists in Psychiatry according to the Kazakhstan’s State obligatory standard for postgraduate medical education (KSOSPME) in residency and the six ACGME core competencies which are: 1. Patient care and procedural skills 2. Medical knowledge 3. Practice-based learning and improvement 4. Interpersonal and communication skills 5. Professionalism 6. System-based practice;
• To train medical doctors to become psychiatry specialists who are able to apply their knowledge and skills in clinical and scholarly activities;
• To provide the program graduates with the foundation competencies in Psychiatry to continue their post-graduate medical training in sub-specialties.

Graduating from a psychiatry residency program opens up a wide range of career opportunities. Most graduates go into clinical practice, either in a hospital setting or outpatient mental health centers (Primary Mental Health center at General polyclinics). With the rise of telemedicine, telepsychiatry has become an increasingly popular option. Psychiatrists can offer remote consultations and therapy sessions, providing greater access to mental health care, especially in underserved areas.

Many psychiatrists choose to further specialize in areas such as child and adolescent psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, addiction psychiatry and psychotherapy. This often requires additional fellowship training. Some graduates opt for academic careers, combining clinical practice with teaching and research. They may work in medical schools or research institutions, contributing to the advancement of psychiatric knowledge and training the next generation of psychiatrists.

Psychiatrists with an interest in public health may work in government agencies, NGOs, or health organizations, focusing on mental health policy, program development, and mental health advocacy.

By the end of the Psychiatry Residency Program the residents should achieve the graduation target in the majority of the ACGME Milestones and the requirements for core competencies of the KSOSPME in residency for specialists in Psychiatry, as follows:

1. Patient Care :

• Psychiatric Evaluation : gathering and organizing findings from the patient interview and mental status examination, from collateral sources, screening for risk and integrating risk assessment into the patient evaluation; PC1
• Psychiatric Formulation and Differential Diagnosis: organizes and summarizes findings and generates differential diagnosis ; identifies contributing factors and contextual features and creates a formulation ; uses the emotional responses of clinician and patient as diagnostic information; PC2
• Treatment Planning and Management: creates treatment plan ; monitors and revises treatment when indicated; incorporates the use of community resources; PC3
• Psychotherapy: establishes therapeutic alliance and manages boundaries; selects, sets goals, and provides psychotherapies including supportive, psychodynamic, and cognitive-behavioral; manages therapeutic process; PC4
• Somatic Therapies (including Psychopharmacology and Neurostimulation Therapies) : understands the mechanisms of action, indications, and evidence base for somatic therapies and appropriately applies them to patient care ; educates patients about somatic therapies including access to accurate psychoeducational resources; appropriately monitors patient’s response to treatment; PC5
• Clinical Consultation: understanding of the consultation model, including liaison function, understanding of models of integrated multidisciplinary mental health and primary care, collaborates skillfully with practitioners from other disciplines in medical settings ; leads consultation-liaison psychiatry teams and integrated care teams; PC6

2. Medical knowledge:

• Development through the Life Cycle (the basic stages of typical biological, sociocultural, sexual, and cognitive development ); the Impact of Psychopathology on the Trajectory of Development and Development on the Expression of Psychopathology); knowledge of pathological and environmental influences on development; MK1
• Diagnostic Criteria, Epidemiology, Pathophysiology, Course of Illness, Comorbidities, and Differential Diagnosis of Psychiatric Disorders, including Substance Use Disorders and Presentation of Psychiatric Disorders across the Life Cycle and in Diverse Patient Populations; knowledge to identify and treat psychiatric conditions ; knowledge at the interface of psychiatry and the rest of medicine; MK2
• Clinical Neuroscience (includes Knowledge of Neurology, Neuropsychiatry, Neurodiagnostic Testing, and Relevant Neuroscience and their Application in Clinical Settings) : neurodiagnostic and neuropsychological testing ; neuropsychiatric comorbidity; application of neuroscientific findings in psychiatry ;MK3
• Fundamentals, practice and indications, evidence base of the three core psychotherapeutic modalities: supportive, psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral; MK4

3. System-based practice:

• Patient Safety and Quality Improvement: analyzes patient safety events,, appropriately discloses patient safety events, participates in quality improvement; SBP1
• System Navigation for Patient-Centered Care: coordinates patient care, safely transitions care, population and community health needs; SBP2
• Physician Role in Health Care Systems: understanding and working within the health care system, health care financing and advocacy, transition to practice; SBP3

4. Practice-based learning and improvement

• Evidence-Based and Informed Practice: locates and applies the best available evidence to the care of patients applying a hierarchy of evidence; PBLI 1
• Reflective Practice and Commitment to Personal Growth: accepts responsibility for personal and professional development by establishing goal, designing and implementing a learning plans; analyzes, reflects on, and institutes behavioral change(s) to narrow the gap(s) between one’s expected and actual performance; PBLI 2

5. Professionalism

• Professional Behavior and Ethical Principles: demonstrates professional behavior in routine, complex or stressful situations; analyzing, managing and resolving complex situations using ethical principles and recognizes when help is needed; P1
• Accountability/Conscientiousness: performs tasks and responsibilities in a timely manner with appropriate attention to detail in routine, complex or stressful situations; displays increasing autonomy and leadership in taking responsibility for ensuring the patients receive the best possible care; P2
• Well-Being: develops a plan to promote personal and professional well-being, describes institutional factors that positively and/or negatively affect well-being; P3

6. Interpersonal and communication skills

• Patient- and Family-Centered Communication: effectively establishes and sustains therapeutic relationships, with attention to patient/family concerns and context, regardless of complexity; uses shared decision making to align patient/family values, goals, and preferences with treatment options to make a personalized care plan; ICS 1
• Interprofessional and Team Communication: communicates information effectively with all health care team members; coordinates recommendations from different members of the health care team to optimize patient care; ICS 2
• Communication within Health Care Systems: maintain comprehensive, timely, and legible medical records ICS 3

STEP 1. Create your personal account

Register on www.admissions.nu.edu.kz portal to create a Personal Account. Read the instructions about the application procedure given in your Personal account.

STEP 2. Complete your Application Form and attach the required documents

Fill out the application form and attach the required documents:

1. Scanned copy of a National ID card or passport;
2. Scanned copy of secondary school or higher education institution certificate (attestat/diploma) with final academic performance or certificate from the school (spravka) according to the sample in the personal account;
3. Motivation letter in English;
4. Valid copies of certificates. The results of standardized tests must be sent directly to the University through test administrators.

STEP 3. Pay an application fee

The application fee is paid online via your personal account with a bank card.

The application fee is 10 000 tenge and it is increased 3 times from the established amount when paid within the last two weeks before the first officially approved deadline and/or during the extension period for accepting applications for participation in the admission process. This amount is non-refundable.

Step 4. Finish the registration process

Finish the registration process by pressing the “Submit application” button. After submission applicants can’t change their applications.

Step 5. Upload IELTS/TOEFL certificates

Upload IELTS/TOEFL certificates in your personal account in the section "Upload IELTS/TOEFL" and fill up the required information about the certificate.

Further steps

Check your e-mail for notifications from the NU Admissions Department and your personal account to learn about your application status.

If you experience any difficulties with the registration or online application, please contact info_admissions@nu.edu.kz. Refer to your IIN and/or Applicant ID while sending us your requests.

Online application deadline for the residency program for the citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan and for international applicants - May 16, 2025, inclusive (2 pm Astana time).

All registered candidates can check the status of their application in the Personal account. Description of the status below is presented in the order of assignment to the candidate in the Personal account.

Application in processing. This is interim status, which means that the application is being processed. Admissions Committee will evaluate the application and inform the candidate on further steps/stages. Notification on final results will be sent to your email address.

Does not meet entry requirements. The status is assigned to the candidates who do not meet the minimum entry requirements. It is given after checking the application forms and the documents by the Admissions Department.

Disqualified. The status is assigned to candidates who are disqualified for gross violations of the conditions of the competition. For example, provided deliberately false information.

Rejected by Admissions Committee. At one of the competition stages, the Admissions Committee decided to reject the candidate’s application.

Transfer to another program. At the stage of an application screening the Admissions Committee has decided to recommend the candidate for consideration by the Admissions Committee of another program within the same School.

Pending. Candidate’s application is pending.

Waiting list. The Admissions Committee has finished reviewing the candidate’s application and made a decision to put you on a waiting list. Such candidates should expect notification from the University, as there is a possibility that if other candidates reject to study, they may be sent an invitation letter to study.

Recommended for admission to program. Admissions Committee has decided to recommend candidate for the program without going through the Zero Year of Graduate programs.

Recommended for conditional admission. The Admissions Committee has decided to recommend a candidate for the conditional admission with a requirement to fulfill the condition by the deadline specified in the notification.

Withdrawn. Candidate decided to withdraw from the competition.

Accepted Program admission offer. The status is assigned to candidates who received offer letter, signed Enrollment confirmation form and fulfilled all the сonditions of the University indicated in the offer letter.

Refused admission offer. The candidate was recommended for admission, but refused to study.

Refused in favor of another NU program. The status is applicable for those candidates, who applied for several graduate programs at NU. The status is assigned when the candidate chooses another program.

Deferred. The status is assigned to candidates who were accepted for the program, but decided to postpone their studies until the next year.

Did not submit the documents/Refused. The status assigned to candidates who did not provide originals of the documents by the stated deadline, which means that the candidate refuses to study at University.

Did not come to Orientation week/Refused. The status is assigned to candidates who accepted the offer letter, provided hard copies of documents, but did not participate in Orientation week. The vacant place, if available, can be offered to the candidates in the Waiting list.

Enrolled to program. The status is assigned to candidates who enrolled to the main program by the Decision of the Provost. Candidate officially became a student.

The clinical curriculum is based on the KSOSPME residency requirements and the ACGME Program Requirements for Psychiatry Residencies, ensuring that all ACGME Competencies and Milestones for residency programs are met. All learning activities and procedures must be recorded in the resident’s Case Log and portfolio, similar to the ACGME Case Log System.

PGY 1

The first year, or "Intern" year, focuses on providing residents with clinical experience in treating patients with acute and chronic illnesses in various inpatient departments, under the supervision of attending physicians from clinical sites and/or NUSOM faculty. This foundational year is designed to prepare residents for further psychiatric training by integrating clinical rotations and weekly teaching, enabling them to manage a wide range of medical and psychiatric disorders and emergencies. This marks the initial stage in mastering the skills required for modern psychiatric practice.

The PGY1 year is divided into 12 blocks, each lasting four weeks. Psychiatry residents spend three blocks in Family Medicine, two in Neurology, four in the Inpatient Psychiatry department, two in the Substance Use Disorders Inpatient department, and one block in the Emergency Department. During Neurology, Inpatient Psychiatry, and Substance Use Disorder rotations, residents also complete two weeks of night float.

Teaching Curriculum: During the psychiatry rotations in PGY1, the formal weekly teaching curriculum establishes a foundational knowledge of psychiatry that will be built upon in later training. The curriculum includes interactive teaching sessions, seminars, case conferences, journal clubs, grand rounds, and workshops. These programs are led by faculty, many of whom are esteemed experts in their respective fields.

PGY 2

Junior residents continue to build on the clinical experience gained in PGY1. The second year of residency offers a core set of experiences that cover the full range of inpatient psychiatry, with clinical rotations lasting 1-2 months in areas such as mood disorders, psychosis, child and geriatric psychiatry, substance use disorders, and psychosomatic psychiatry. The weekly teaching sessions are closely aligned with these clinical experiences. By the end of the second year, residents are capable of diagnosing and treating a wide variety of common psychiatric disorders.

The formal teaching curriculum in PGY2 builds on the foundational psychiatric knowledge gained in PGY1 and is closely integrated with the clinical experiences of the year. It includes lectures, seminars, case conferences, journal clubs, grand rounds, and workshops.

PGY 3

In the third year of residency, training focuses on enhancing the skills and knowledge developed during the first two years through experiences in outpatient psychiatry. Residents work in various general and specialty clinics, providing opportunities to learn different models of care. These models involve independently managing patients, collaborating with therapists during patient visits, and working closely with multidisciplinary treatment teams.

By the end of the third year, residents are proficient in diagnosing and treating patients and providing ongoing care across various outpatient settings. They also reach higher levels of competency in psychotherapy. The formal PGY3 teaching curriculum covers advanced topics, including courses on multiple psychotherapy modalities, advanced psychopharmacology, and evidence-based medicine.

Residents are required to complete two eleven-month clinics, along with six-month clinics in Geriatric Psychiatry, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Anxiety Disorders, Personality Disorders, and Psychosomatic Pathology. Additionally, residents must choose at least three six-month electives, typically scheduled once per week for a half-day. Throughout this year, residents continue their psychotherapy training, managing an increasing caseload of patients with individual and group supervision.