Residency in Urology

The Urology residency is a five-year residency program including two years of general surgery training and three years of specialist urology training program. The residents will acquire the knowledge, skills, and abilities to provide outpatient and inpatient management of urological diseases in the following domains: andrology, infertility, impotence, sexuality, calculus disease, neuro-urology, obstructive diseases, oncology, pediatric urology, endourology, extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, female urology, infectious diseases, renovascular diseases, surgery of the adrenal gland, renal transplantation, trauma, and urodynamics.

This Program will educate Urology residents, according to the six ACGME (Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education) core competencies.

The first two years of training will cover Common trunk rotations of surgical specialties such as General Surgery, ICU/Anesthesiology, Vascular Surgery, Urgent, Trauma Surgery, and Outpatient Surgery giving an experience with one to three months of rotations. The rest three years will provide in-depth experience covering all Urology areas with rotation duration being one to four months in order to train excellent urologic surgeons, by providing flexibility to pursue either an academic or private-practice career path.

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 primary objective of the NU SOM Urology Residency Training Program is to produce urology specialist surgeons who are safe to screen the range of referrals that can be made to the urology service and to deal with the majority safely. They will be capable of recognizing more complex cases, their urgency and of arranging appropriate and timely onward referrals, with a good grounding in basic and clinical research. Our graduates will be able to practice with confidence in either the community or private hospital or as an academic in a university teaching hospital.

The clinical assignments will be carefully structured to ensure that graded levels of responsibility, continuity in patient care, a balance between education and service, and progressive clinical experiences are achieved for each resident.

The 5-year curriculum provides cognitive, psychomotor, and affective objectives for training and offers residents opportunities to acquire a broad understanding and foster appropriate technical and motor skills:

PGY 1 and PGY2

These rotations are designed to provide the resident with broad-based exposure to the fundamentals of pre-and post-operative surgical care and a solid basis in surgical technical skills, such as the handling of tissue, closure of simple and complex wounds, exposure, and performance of basic general surgical procedures. During Urology rotations, residents will become familiar with the urologic diagnosis, endoscopy, urodynamic technique and theory, and management of urologic oncology patients. They will also acquire basic operative (including minimally invasive) skills and in-depth experience with both common and uncommon urologic disease processes.

PGY 3 - PGY 5

The PGY-3 -5 years provide intensive training in pediatric urology, endourology, female urology, infertility, erectile dysfunction, and urologic oncology. The rotation in urologic oncology offers significant exposure to patients with prostate, bladder, or renal cancer. In addition, training in Renal transplantation will be provided.

Educational Activities

Throughout the program, there are regularly scheduled conferences. On a weekly basis, the surgical service conference reviews all morbidity and mortality cases. A weekly basic science and clinical seminar series review a core curriculum in fundamental problems relevant to surgical care incorporating journal reviews, urological imaging conferences, and urological pathology conferences.

Presentations are given by members of the surgical staff, and faculty from other clinical and basic science departments. Surgical grand rounds are held once a month and include presentations from all aspects of the specialty.

The didactic sessions will include the following topics/aspects:

• bioethics;
• biostatistics;
• epidemiology;
• geriatrics;
• infectious disease;
• medical oncology;
• plastic surgery;
• radiation safety;
• renal transplantation;
• renovascular disease; and,
• trauma.

Moreover, the following core techniques will be included:

• endo-urology;
• major flank and pelvic surgery;
• microsurgery;
• minimally-invasive intra-abdominal and pelvic surgical techniques (such as laparoscopy/robotics);
• perineal and genital surgery; and,
• urologic imaging including fluoroscopy, interventional radiology, and ultrasound.