Businessmen view universities purely as commercial projects, and this is detrimental to education, according to the renowned political analyst Marat Shybutov.

On his Telegram channel, Shybutov commented on the conflict surrounding the Academy of Transport and Communications:

I’m amazed by the debates about the Academy of Transport and Communications — people are arguing over who’s right in this property dispute, whether it’s in support of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (Kazakhstan Railways) or the former owner. In reality, the public should be less concerned about who’s right in the property dispute and more about which owner will manage the university better.

Let’s take the QS World University Rankings as an example – there are 21 Kazakhstani universities listed, with only 4 private ones among them – KIMEP, ATU, Narxoz, and KBTU. However, their rankings are in the range of 801-850, 951-1000, 1001-1200, and 1201-1400. In comparison, KazNU is ranked 230th and ENU is 355th. These two public universities are also present in the Times Higher Education rankings, while private universities are not. Currently, it appears that NU has entered the rankings, but it’s also a public university.

In practice, the government is a much better manager in the field of education than private investors. The latter tend to view universities as commercial enterprises, which is detrimental to the educational process.

Let’s take the Academy of Transport and Communications itself and look at its 2022 rankings by subject areas:

1. Transport, Transport Equipment, and Technology – 26th out of 28 universities
2. Radio Engineering, Electronics, and Telecommunications – 21st out of 23 universities
3. Logistics – 5th out of 13 universities
4. Transport Operations, Movement, and Exploitation – 22nd out of 26 universities
5. Automation and Control – 14th out of 26 universities
6. Electrical Engineering – 25th out of 30 universities.

How can you describe such results? Simply put, it’s abysmal. It’s clear that the owner who managed the university in recent years was a poor administrator. This will be better for students and future applicants.

Would you like your train journey to be managed by individuals who graduated from one of the worst universities in the field of ‘Transport Operations, Movement, and Exploitation’?»