On December 24, 2024 the Rector of KNU Dogdurbek Chontoev met with representatives of the mass media at the digital technology center in the main building. The meeting was attended by “Erkin-Too”, “Kyrgyz Tuusu” newspapers, UTRK, ElTR, First Radio, Sputnik Kyrgyzstan Radio, “Kabar” news agency, “Region” TV channel, Channel 7, T-media, Sokol.media news agency, Heads, editors-in-chief of RFE/RL bureau in Bishkek, Mir TV channel’s Kyrgyz branch, Rossiyskaya Gazeta’s Kyrgyz representative office, as well as freelance journalists, media experts and a representative of the “Sezim”.
The meeting was led by the Director of the Institute of Journalism and Communication, Shirin Kostyuk.
At the beginning of his speech, the Rector thanked the journalists for taking the time to come, congratulated them on the upcoming New Year and announced that on October 25, 2025 the National University will celebrate its 100th anniversary. He said that he hopes it will be supported, saying that “a lot of things are being done at the National University, but we are not able to fully broadcast them to the public.”
Further, Dogdurbek Chontoev told media representatives that Kyrgyz National University named after Jusup Balasagyn was granted a special status by the Decree No. 243 of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic dated July 18, 2022. Then he provided the information about the structure, material and technical base, faculty and students of the National University created for its implementation, financial situation, salary increase, international activities, educational programs and scientific research, and answered the questions of media representatives.
Media representatives participating in the meeting said that the Institute of Journalism and Communication (former “Jurfak”) of KNU has prepared the great amount of personnel for newspapers, TV, and radio, most of the managers and journalists graduated from that faculty and thanked the Rector for providing detailed information about the institution. They expressed their readiness to cooperate and highlighted some problems in training journalists and ways to solve them.
In the further part of the meeting, the Rector presented certificates of honor to the media representatives for their active cooperation and contribution to the information policy of KNU. At the end of the meeting, Memorandums on cooperation were signed between Kyrgyz National University named after Jusup Balasagyn and the following newspapers and TV channels: “Kyrgyz Tuusu” newspaper, Erkin-Too newspaper, ElTR, Kabar news agency, Sputnik Radio Kyrgyzstan, Mir TV channel’s branch in Kyrgyzstan, Rossiyskaya Gazeta’s representative office in Kyrgyzstan and “Region” TV channel were signed. The documents were signed by Dogdurbek Chontoev, the Rector of KNU, Almaz Kulmatov, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Kyrgyz Tuusu”, Naraly Asanbaev, the editor-in-chief of the “Erkin-Too” newspaper, Nurkamal Askanova, the deputy general director of ElTR, Mederbek Shermetaliev, the director of the “Kabar” news agency, and the head of Sputnik Kyrgyzstan radio Elena Cheremenina, Director General of the Kyrgyz branch of “Mir” TV channel Nurdin Urmanbetov, “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” – director of the representative office in Kyrgyzstan Dmitry Evlashkov, and Dooronbek Adakhanov, the deputy director of the “Region” TV channel.
