Financing for equity in higher education
1. Education resources to subnational governments
2. Education resources to institutions
3. Education resources to students
4. Support for students' living costs
Introduction
Key financing indicators (UIS Data)
The gross enrolment ratio for tertiary education for both sexes is 52.86% (UIS 2025 estimates). The initial government funding per tertiary student as a percentage of GDP per capita is 8.71 (UIS 2019 estimates). The initial household funding per tertiary student as a percentage of GDP per capita is 5.94 (UIS 2018 estimates).
Tuition-free status
The 1995 Constitution and the 2007 Education Act guarantee the right to obtain free higher education on a competitive basis in state higher education institutions.
Governance
The financing of higher education is primarily the responsibility of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, which acts as the authorised state body for higher and postgraduate education and administers the state educational order, including the allocation of public grants to higher education institutions. Budgetary resources for higher education are appropriated through the state budget and executed under the public finance framework overseen by the Ministry of Finance, while local executive bodies (akimats) may also finance specific grants or support measures for higher education from local budgets.
1. Education resources to subnational governments
Subnational funding mechanisms
The 2025 Law on Amounts of Transfers of General Nature between Republican and Regional Budgets, Budgets of Cities of Republican Value provides intergovernmental (republican-to-local) transfers that can finance local expenditure responsibilities - including education - related spending - through a) transfers of a general nature (notably budget subventions paid from the republican budget to regional/city budgets, alongside budget withdrawals in the opposite direction for fiscally stronger regions) and b) earmarked target transfers, including target transfers of a general nature and allocations linked to development/capital spending, with multi-year transfer volumes set for each region. These mechanisms are primarily equalization and budget-balancing instruments rather than higher-education–specific channels.
Higher education financing remains highly centralised under the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
2. Education resources to institutions
Funding for private universities in the absence of public institutions
The 2007 Education Act does not frame public financing for higher education as conditional on whether a public university is locally available; instead, it creates a contracting mechanism under which public money can flow to non-state providers through the state educational order.
Allocation and equity
Government subsidies for public higher education are allocated centrally via state grants to students on a competitive basis, rather than directly as block grants to institutions.
3. Education resources to students
Admission for vulnerable groups
According to the 2018 Law on Approval of the Standard Rules for Admission to Educational Institutions Implementing Higher and Postgraduate Education Programs, admission to higher education is generally conducted on a competitive basis, governed primarily by performance on the Unified National Testing (UNT), to select the most capable applicants. In addition, the 2007 Education Act explicitly mandates reserved admission quotas for defined social groups, including persons with disabilities, orphans and children without parental care, rural youth (for specialities linked to rural socio-economic development), persons of Kazakh nationality who are not citizens, and individuals equated to war veterans. Furthermore, it introduces priority rights within competitions and tie-break situations for vulnerable groups and high-achieving applicants.
Scholarships, grants and loans for vulnerable groups
According to the 2007 Education Act, scholarships are available for higher education, including undergraduate, master’s, doctoral and study-abroad pathways. They include an international study-abroad scholarship (Bolashak) for citizens to pursue education in leading foreign higher education institutions (and certain professional internships abroad), state stipends for full-time learners, and a special state scholarship for the most gifted higher-education students and master’s candidates decided through higher education institutions’ academic councils. There are also enhanced stipends for specific groups, including persons with visual or hearing impairments and orphans/children left without parental care under guardianship, as well as for consistently top academic performance. Scholarships can additionally be funded by private individuals or legal entities for full-time higher and postgraduate students under founder-defined rules.
4. Support for students’ living costs
Transportation
According to the 2007 Education Act, students studying under the state educational order in technical and vocational, post-secondary, and higher education institutions are entitled to travel concessions during the winter and summer vacation periods on intercity rail and road transport services, excluding taxis.
Accommodation
According to the 2007 Education Act, students are provided with places in the residence halls of educational institutions, with the specific allocation process set by the educational institutions themselves, indicating that institutions (and other relevant education providers) are the direct providers/allocators of dormitory places.
Textbooks
According to the 2007 Education Act, textbook support is provided primarily through free access and provision by educational institutions rather than direct cash subsidies for purchases.
