Renovations planned for the student on-campus housing were postponed for one year, KIMEP housing officials said.
The original plans called for extensive renovations to begin in May 2024 and be completed by the start of the fall 2025 semester, said Ilya Bykovskiy, the director of the Support Services Division.
The renovation was postponed to 2025 due to financial reasons, he said. It will take place from May 2025 until August 2026.
Meanwhile, rent for on-campus housing will increase almost 30% starting in this fall. According to the university website, rent for a double room (a single room shared by two students) costs 386,000 Tenge per student for the semester, or roughly 96,000 Tenge monthly. Last year, a shared dorm room cost 300,000 Tenge for a semester, or about 75,000 Tenge a month.
According to Nomad.com, a website that tracks rental prices around the world, an average apartment rent in Almaty costs about 300,000 Tenge a month, and the rent in the area surrounding KIMEP is even more costly.
Renovations to the 52-year-old building, when they do arrive next year, will include new kitchens, an overhauled exterior, improved wireless connectivity, new HVAC systems among other improvements.
The building was built in 1972. Equipment in kitchens will be fully changed and air conditioning will be installed in all rooms and corridors.
“From May 2025 until August 2026 a lot of work will be done to improve everything in dormitory,” Bykovskiy said.
The current residence hall can accommodate up to 406 students, according to KIMEP University’s website. Students said the rooms are comfortable and clean, the staff is friendly and there are laundry rooms, study rooms, and TV rooms available.
There is a kitchen on each floor available 24 hours a day. Wi-Fi, and cable television are included in the residence hall rate. The bathroom is shared with another dorm room, so up to four people may use the same bathroom.
Residence hall students have their own canteen, which share similar prices as the other canteens on campus.
However, students said there is room to improve.
“Our room, that I shared with another student was tiny,” said Maximilian Mayrhofer, who lived in the dorms during the spring 2024 semester as an exchange student from Austria. He added the kitchen was often crowded.
Ibrahim Kazhygaliyev, from Atyrau, said he would like to have stronger wireless connection.
“Wi-Fi in the dormitory is scratchy,” he said, “and I wish it was better because the better the Wi-Fi connection, the easier it is to do online assignments.”
Arina Lyssenko, from Astana, said there are not enough irons in the dormitory and that she had to buy her own, which is costly. Sometimes the water and electricity shut off in the residence hall as well.
The housing office said it has heard many of the students’ suggestions and will address them when the renovations begin next year.
“When the renovation is done,” Bykovskiy said, “everything will work faster.”