43% of nonresident students in Kazakhstan need a dormitory

In the 2023/2024 academic year, 313.1 thousand nonresident students studied in higher educational institutions of Kazakhstan, which is 6.1% more than the year before. Most of them traditionally studied in three megacities of the country – Almaty, Astana and Shymkent, as well as in the Karaganda and Kostanay regions. The five leading regions account for 73.2% of nonresident students, Liter.kz reports with reference to Energyprom.kz.

Of the 313.1 thousand non-resident students, 134.6 thousand people needed a dormitory, which is 14% more than a year earlier. The share of those in need of a hostel from the total number of nonresident students was 43%. The largest concentration of such students, as expected, occurs in Almaty, Astana and the Karaganda region. At the same time, only 93.5 thousand people lived in dormitories. However, their number increased by 27.9% over the year. And the share of residents of all those in need was 69.4%.

“If we compare the last few academic years, we can say that in the pre-coronavirus period, the share of students living in dormitories out of all those in need of such dormitories was generally higher than now. So, for example, in the 2017/2018 academic year the share was 79.7%, in 2018/2019 – 76.7%, in 2019/2020 – 71.5%, but during the pandemic, in 2020/2021 — decreased to 38.1%. While the indicators have not yet reached “pre-Covid” times. As for the share of those in need of a hostel from the total number of nonresident students, the figure has been declining for several years to 33.3% in the 2020/2021 academic year. But after that the share began to grow,” reports energyprom.kz.

Regionally, educational institutions in Turkestan, East Kazakhstan, Pavlodar, Kyzylorda, Atyrau and Zhetysu regions were able to fully provide students with dormitories. Nonresident students of Ulytau region (by only 36.7%), Akmola region (by 51.6%), Almaty (by 62.2%), Astana (by 64.8%) and Aktobe region (by 65%) are the worst provided with places. ,5%).

Based on the results of January–April 2024, 12 new dormitories were put into operation compared to 17 a year earlier. The annual reduction in the number of completed dormitories was 29.4%.

Photo: energyprom.kz