Work on Central Campus of Universities Restarts

Talk of building a central campus of universities has started over ten years ago in Mongolia. The Mongolian University of Science and Technology once decided to build its campus at the foothills of Bayangol and even obtained the official permission to use the land. The urgent need to establish a central campus has started to be discussed in government since 2008 and the land in Bayangol was estimated to be insufficient for building the campus. For this reason, two more years passed and the Mongolian Government approved Decree 149 to develop universities by establishing a central campus of universities. At that time, the Administration for Pre-Operation of the Central Campus (APCC) was formed under the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science to implement the decree; and then Ulaanbaatar City Mayor G.Munkhbayar provided 2,000 hectares of land in Shiveet Valley of Nalaikh District for the purpose of buiding the campus.

Approximately 220 million MNT was spent for conducting a technical and economic assessment on the land, formulating a general plan, and designing the land survey. But the land was detected to have permafrost and the area’s harsh weather conditions prevented its construction. What’s more, it could have entailed a great risk and high amount of funding. Some parts of the land were also already privatized for citizens. Therefore, the National Development and Innovation Committee announced a bid to choose another suitable land. As a result, the central campus was decided to be built in Khurment Valley in the fourth and fifth Khoroos of Baganuur District on a 10-thousand hectare land, according to a decree in a government meeting last November 2011.

The advantages of building the campus in Baganuur were that no thermal power and water treatment plants had to be constructed there so that the campus will be linked to heating, electricity, and water lines directly. However, a year passed without any progress on the central campus. When journalists inquired about its slow progress, APCC officials said no further that it needs thorough preparation and planning before starting construction.

Soon enough, the Innovation and Reform Government was formed and all staff of APCC were reappointed as it is almost a tradition to change state officials when a new government is formed in Mongolia. Therefore, the central campus is restarting with other officials. As newly appointed officials are likely to be inexperienced, it will take time to learn. When they...