Tashkent, 25 October. Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, at a meeting with young people and a meeting on education, announced that the state would cover 100% of students' housing rent and that talented students would be moved onto state grants from the second year.
The new arrangement, according to the report, is intended to ease the financial burden on students and their families and to reward hard-working, ambitious young people. Moving students from paid places to grants from the second year is meant to increase competition in higher education. How many students the compensation will cover, when it will take effect, whether it will have a ceiling and how it will be funded are not stated in the available reports. The official text of the decision has not yet been published.
Rent compensation for students has existed in Uzbekistan since 2021, but only in part. Under a document Mirziyoyev signed then, 60% of students at state universities without dormitory places had half of their monthly rent reimbursed from the budget. Reimbursement could not exceed one base calculation unit in Tashkent and half that in the regions; priority went to children from needy families and outstanding students. In 2022, according to the presidential administration, 81,000 students received rent compensation. The base calculation unit is a notional unit used in Uzbekistan to calculate duties, fees, fines and payments; since 1 September 2026 it has stood at 440,000 soums, about 36 dollars at the summer exchange rate.
What it means: Uzbekistan has announced a move from partial to full rent compensation. If the conditions are confirmed in a document, housing will stop being the main expense for students from other cities.
Who benefits: Students from other cities and their families; universities, which will find it easier to recruit students from the regions. The authorities have not publicly estimated the cost to the budget.
Background: In 2023 Uzbekistan had more than 19 million people under 30, or 55% of the population. In 2021, when partial compensation was introduced, more than 130,000 university students lived in rented flats, according to the government.
We have also reported that Mirziyoyev spoke of neighbourhoods without crime.
