It is named after Süleyman Demirel, the former prime minister and president of Turkey.

The university was established in 1996, by the initiatives of the former president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and the former president of Turkey, Süleyman Demirel.

The university has a trilingual education system (English Medium Instruction based), according to which 70% of educational programs are taught in English and 30% are available in English, Kazakh or Russian.

Training is conducted according to the ECTS system (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System).

The university boasts 8,500 students, including students from Central Asia, China, Russia, Mongolia, Indonesia.