This was announced by Bibigul Assylova, Vice Minister of Education and Science, at the briefing in the press center of the Government on construction of dormitories for students of universities and colleges under the public-private partnership principle within the framework of the President’s Five Social Initiatives.

According to the speaker, the Ministry has begun work on the implementation of the Third Initiative "Increasing accessibility and quality of higher education and improving the living conditions of student youth." Thus, meetings were held with representatives of the Ministry of National Economy, universities, the National Bank, second-tier banks, private developers in order to determine the mechanisms for implementing this task.

"The decision to improve the living conditions of student youth is expected at the expense of private resources, including universities, colleges, investors and other partners," the Vice Minister stressed.

This mechanism is attractive for universities, colleges, investors because their expenses will be justified at the expense of state-guaranteed gradual reimbursements of a part of investments aimed at building dormitories. At the same time, if colleges, universities or private partners don’t have a land plot, local executive bodies will allocate a land plot with engineering and communication infrastructures.

As Bibigul Assylova noted, the draft law "On Amendments and Additions to Some Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Improving Living Conditions for Students and the Development of Per capita Standard Financing" is already being drafted. Soon it will be sent for coordination to relevant state bodies.

The preliminary scheme of the project implementation is as follows:

• University, college or a private partner prepares a dormitory project. Further, they conclude an agreement with Financial Center JSC.
• At the second stage, on the basis of the contract, they receive a loan from the bank, hire a developer and build a dormitory. If they build a hostel, then from the day of its launch into operation they will receive the appropriate amount each month for one bed-place.

"Banks, universities and developers tentatively agreed on the proposed scheme. According to the information of second-tier banks, there is sufficient tenge liquidity. The issue of entrepreneurs' access to inexpensive borrowed resources, including foreign financial institutions, is also being considered," B. Assylova summed up.

Answering the journalists' questions about whether the construction of new hostels will not entail an increase in tuition fees, B. Assylova stressed that providing students with hostels will not affect the tuition fee in any way. In addition, the MES RK plans to follow the rate of cheaper housing construction projects, since the projects submitted for today are slightly overstated at prices.

For reference: 530 thousand students are studying at universities of the country, including 204 thousand (38%) — non-residents who need dormitories. According to the President's Five Social Initiatives, by 2022 it is necessary to ensure the introduction of new 75 thousand places in student dormitories.

 

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