Stipends are one of the main sources of income for students. In addition to working after classes, receiving money from family members, a stipend can cover a certain part of the monthly expenses. But according to the current procedure in Uzbekistan, those who study on the basis of a tuition fee choose whether to receive a stipend or not, and those who study on a state grant are paid a basic stipend.
What is the amount of stipend that Uzbek students receive at the moment? How many stipends are paid to students in other Central Asian countries?
How is the stipend paid in Uzbekistan?
A basic stipend is provided to students studying full-time on the basis of a state grant, as well as a stipend-payment contract. Students who complete the semester only with “excellent” (above 86%) will receive additional 20% of their stipend.
But at the end of the academic semester, students with 30% or more of the “satisfactory” grades (below 71%) of the learning indicators of subjects will not be paid a stipend during the next semester.
According to the information given to Kun.uz by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, the amount of basic stipend paid to students is 517,880 soums. Stipend for students who have only “excellent” performance (whose rating is 86 points and above) in all subjects – 621,456 soums.
Apart from this, prestigious stipends have also been established for talented students.
• Presidential stipend – 2,191,541 soums;
• Beruniy, Ibn Sino, Navoi, Ulugbek, Imom al-Bukhori, Bobur, Pahlavon Mahmud, Tolepbergen Qaipbergenov, Ibroyim Yusupov, Islom Karimov and Kamoliddin Behzod state stipends – 1,461,028 soums;
As one can see from the list, the most expensive stipend is the presidential one.
What is the stipend amount in neighboring countries?
Kazakhstan (as of the new 2023/2024 academic year):
• stipend for pedagogy and healthcare students – 67,200 tenge (1 million 777 thousand soums);
• for students of higher educational institutions (excluding healthcare and pedagogy) – 41,898 tenge (1 million 108 thousand soums);
• for students studying in technical and vocational education programs – 32,681 tenge (864 thousand soums);
• for graduate students – 94,024 tenge (2,486,000 soums).
Kyrgyzstan:
In Kyrgyzstan (data available for 2022), we were able to find information on stipends paid only for students of pedagogical universities. According to it, as of the 2022 academic year, 1,000 soms (137,000 soums) for 1st-year students of pedagogical higher education institutions, 2,000 soms (274,000 soums) for 2nd-year students, 3,000 soms (411,000 soums) for 3rd-year students 4,000 soms (548,000 soums) for the 4th-year students.
In addition, presidential stipend is awarded to active students in Kyrgyzstan – one-time payment of 50,000 soms (in 2021 – 6.8 million soums).
Tajikistan:
According to 2022 data, the average amount of stipend received by students in Tajikistan is 368 somoni (405 thousand soums). It is known that one student spends an average of 1.5 thousand somoni per month. The stipend may cover only one week of his monthly expenses.
Although the data for Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are mainly for 2022, it can be concluded that Kazakh students receive the highest stipends based on open data.
