Kazakhstan’s lower chamber of Parliament passed on April 16 a bill to establish a new law strengthening government control over university endowments. Science and education minister Sayasat Nurbek said that some of the largest endowments will be excluded from the new regulation.
According to Nurbek, the government studied the existing laws in the US and Russia while drafting the bill. The new law will concern 15 endowment funds in the education sector, regulating the way in which they can accrue assets as well as the rules for directing these assets towards investment or charitable activities.
The new rule, however, will not cover every endowment.
“Large endowment funds, such as the ones under the Physics and Mathematics School, Nazarbayev University, or Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools, are already regulated by a separate law,” Nurbek said. “The new law will not interfere with these large and profitable funds.”
When asked about the reason to have two separate laws, the minister said that these are “equivalent laws,” which are not in conflict with each other.
As of September 2023, the private foundation “Nazarbayev Fund” held assets of more than $1 billion. The foundation is associated with Nazarbayev University and Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools and while not strictly classified as an endowment, it finances educational activities.
Established in 2009, the Nazarbayev Fund was almost dormant until 2019, when then-President Nursultan Nazarbayev stepped down. Together with another private educational fund, it created Pioneer Capital Invest, an investment vehicle that made massive investments in the country’s banking sector.
A joint investigation by Vlast, Kloop, and OCCRP showed that Pioneer Capital Invest's assets were valued at $7.8 billion in 2022, including US Treasury bills and government bonds from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
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