Almaty universities to be merged

42 Almaty universities will be merged into 10, Tengrinews.kz reports citing deputy Akim (Mayor) of Almaty Zauresh Amanzholova. The merging of the universities to make large education clusters will have no negative effect on the students, the official assured. Meanwhile, she did not give the exact number of universities to be merged, as the issue was still being considered by the authorities jointly with the Kazakhstan Ministry of Education and Science. “Nothing will happen to the students. Only the form of management will change, this will have no effect on them. There will be around 10 universities, maybe a little more. There is no final number yet. But it will surely be more than two or five,” she said. Meanwhile, according to head of the youth politics department of Almaty administration Sanzhar Bokayev, the initial plan was to cut around 10 universities, but the process turned out to be more complicated as every university has its own specifics, financial and administrative bases. There mergers would cause conflicts between the managements. Kazakhstan Minister of Education and Science Bakytzhan Zhumagulov initiated the cutting in the number of universities in Kazakhstan. Only 50 universities should remain out of the current 140, he said. Other universities should be transferred into academies and their total number should not exceed 100, Zhumagulov said.