The latest wave of privatization in higher education in Kazakhstan is well underway, with news this week that four higher education institutions (HEIs) are up for sale[ru]. The range of offerings is quite diverse – as are the starting prices – so there’s sure to be something to suit all tastes.

Take your pick from:

1. Kazakh Ablai Khan University of International Relations and World Languages [en/kz/ru], a well-known and quite prestigious humanities and social sciences university based in former capital Almaty. Bids start at US4.5m and must also guarantee to make an additional $200,000 available for investment.
2. Baikonurov Zheskazganskiy University [kz/ru], located in central Kazakhstan and started life as a single faculty offering evening classes at Karaganda Polytechnic, expanded to offering daytime courses a decade later in the 1970s, becoming a standalone institute in 1992 and a university in 1996. It is being offered for a starting price of US$889,000
3. Kazakh Leading Academy of Architecture and Civil Engineering [en/kz/ru], based in Almaty, which leads the pack with a starting price of US6.6m
4. Almaty University of Power Engineering and Telecommunications [en/kz/ru] – founded as the Almaty Energy Institute in 1975 and upgraded to university status in 1997 and offering specialized courses starting at high school and continuing through PhD. Starting price US$3.7m

Also up for grabs is the Republican School of Advanced Sports Skills in Water and Applied Sports [ru/kz] (really, that is an actual school) with a starting price of US$875,000.

Bids are being accepted until March 7 and are to be submitted by ‘closed electronic envelope’.

For more on the background to Kazakhstan’s privatization drive, check out my post from August 2018.