Suleyman Demirel University (SDU) is one of the first private higher education institutions in Kazakhstan. It is situated in the mountainous town of Kaskelen, 20km from Almaty city center. The University was founded in 1996 and opened by the president of the country Nursultan Nazarbayev. SDU currently has four faculties: Education & Humanities, Engineering & Natural Sciences, Law & Social Sciences, and the Business School. SDU operates a trilingual education system whereby 81% of its degree programs are taught in English, 16% in Kazakh, and 3% in Russian.