The University of Central Asia was established in 2000. UCA’s first undergraduate campus opened in 2016 in Naryn, Kyrgyzstan, and was followed by a second campus in Khorog, Tajikistan (2017). The school is an internationally chartered not-for-profit secular institution. It was formed as a partnership between the governments of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan under the sponsorship of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). It has  residential campuses in all three sponsoring countries.