TOEFL is set per programme (postgraduate often asks for more), and the test moved to the new 1.0–6.0 scale on 21 January 2026 — confirm the current minimum and which scale on the official admissions page before you rely on it.
- City
- Ashgabat
- Type
- Public
- Language of instruction
- Turkmen (national language + HE primary medium, Latin script since 1993 replacing Cyrillic) + Russian (HE continuation especially STEM/medicine) + English (growing in elite institutions)
- Accreditation
- Ministry of Education of Turkmenistan (Türkmenistanyň Bilim Ministrligi) — apex regulator for Turkmen HEIs. Turkmen HE: (1) NATIONAL FLAGSHIP — Magtymguly Turkmen State University (1950 Soviet-era, named after Turkmen national poet); (2) SPECIALIZED PUBLIC — Turkmen State Medical, International Oil + Gas, Agricultural, Architecture, Economics, Pedagogy, Languages (Dovletmamed Azady), Telecommunications, Transport, Power Engineering (Mary), Physical Culture, Military, etc.; (3) DIPLOMATIC + GOVERNMENT — Institute of International Relations (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Presidential Academy of Government Service; (4) RECENT INSTITUTIONS — International University of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Aba Annayev International Equestrian Academy (Arkadag); (5) ARTS + SPORTS — Turkmen State Institute of Culture, National Institute of Sports + Tourism, Physical Culture + Sports. Total ~22 HEIs serving ~6M population. TURKMEN is national language + HE primary medium (Latin script since 1993, abandoning Cyrillic Soviet-era); RUSSIAN continues in HE especially STEM + medicine; ENGLISH growing in elite institutions. ⚠️ CRITICAL CONTEXT: Turkmen HE system was DEVASTATED during Niyazov era 1991-2006 (universities reduced to 2-year programs from Soviet 5-year, replaced curriculum with personality-cult content + Ruhnama required reading, ~14,000 Soviet-era academic texts banned). Partial Soviet-era HE restoration under Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov 2006+. ⚠️ STUDENTS: Verify current operational status before applying — Turkmenistan is one of world's MOST CLOSED COUNTRIES, foreign academic verification difficult.