Kazakhstan began privatizing its higher education system in the early 1990s. As a result, non-state (private) higher education institutions have developed in the country for more than two and a half decades. Moreover, private higher education dominates the higher education system in terms of both the number of institutions and the number of students. Despite its strong expansion, however, the non-state sector of higher education has not been adequately researched. This article attempts to fill this gap. Therefore, this study focuses on private higher education institutions in Kazakhstan and applies a theoretical approach to its understanding. In particular, the classification of private higher education institutions proposed by Daniel Levy is used to analyze the non-state institutions. The results show that all three categories of educational institutions - elite, semi-elite, religious or cultural, and demand-absorbing - operate in the Kazakhstani education market. Only one university belongs to the religious or cultural category. A few universities can be considered semi-elite, while the vast majority of Kazakhstan’s private universities have the characteristics of demand-absorbing institutions.