Financial independence for Kyrgyzstan's universities and research institutes is gradually expanding. The Cabinet of Ministers has put forward for public discussion amendments that change how research organisations manage extrabudgetary funds, including the funds that go towards staff publication activity.
What does financial autonomy give universities and research institutes in Kyrgyzstan?
Financial autonomy for a university or research organisation means the right to manage extrabudgetary funds independently and direct them towards developing research and educational activity. This right is enshrined in education and science legislation, and in spring 2026 parliament separately established, within the Law “On Education”, the concept of administrative and financial autonomy for an educational organisation.
In practice, this means that part of the income a university or research institute earns from fee-paying tuition and paid research, consultancy and publishing services is credited to the organisation's special account and remains at its disposal.
A university's special account: a source of science funding
Current rules require state universities to direct at least one per cent of the total annual volume of special account funds towards science development. As these funds are formally earmarked for research activity as a whole, a university or research institute is entitled to use them to cover costs directly linked to staff publication activity. In practice, such costs include:
- paying for peer review, translation and formatting services for publications
- staff participation in international research conferences and projects
- upgrading laboratory and technical equipment
- subscriptions to international scientific databases
What changes does the new bill propose?
In the summer of 2026, the Cabinet of Ministers put forward for public discussion a bill that would amend the Budget Code, the Non-Tax Revenue Code, and the Laws “On Science” and “On the National Academy of Sciences”. The explanatory note to the document states that the research sector faces a number of systemic problems – limited financial independence, weak commercialisation of research outputs and inadequate technical infrastructure – and that the main aim of the amendments is to reduce research organisations' dependence on the republican budget.
The proposed provisions include:
- The minimum share of special account funds required to be directed towards science will rise from one to three per cent.
- Income from renting out state property will remain at the disposal of the university, the National Academy of Sciences and its research institutions, rather than being transferred to the republican budget.
- The National Academy of Sciences and its subordinate organisations will gain the right to set their own tariffs for paid research, publishing and consultancy services.
How autonomy links to paying for staff publications
The larger share of the special account earmarked for science, together with the retention of additional income sources, increases the volume of funds a university or research institute manages independently. This does not create a separate budget line specifically for publications, but it does give management greater freedom to direct extrabudgetary funds towards the organisational costs involved in preparing staff papers – from paying for manuscript preparation services to covering attendance at conferences related to the publication.
The bill's authors also note that expanded autonomy should help raise scientists' pay, which is likewise linked to publication output.
Expanding financial autonomy does not do away with the existing rules on managing special accounts; rather, it increases the volume of funds a university or research institute can direct towards science at its own discretion. As the bill is still at the public discussion stage, universities and research institutes should follow its further progress while also clarifying the current rules for using special funds in their own internal regulations.
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