Criticism
In 2006 certain former faculty members published letters accusing the university of corruption and cronyism. In a letter to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the former faculty members claimed contracts and salaries were "compromised" at the institution. Former faculty published another letter in the opposition newspaper Respublika which accused several administrators of professional misconduct and lack of qualifications. The letter addressed the awarding of KIMEP tenders to USKO, a company chaired by Dr. Bang.
Responding in the same newspaper, Bang claimed that the accusations by the former faculty were not true. He noted that in 2006, 95% of KIMEP employees said they would recommended the school as a good place to work. He said four faculty members were regrettably fired because "their actions did not correspond to the mission and goals of the institute". He noted that those faculty members who left KIMEP voluntarily usually did so for personal reasons or because their time in Kazakhstan had come to a scheduled end. The letter also pointed out that out of eleven on-going or recently completed construction projects at KIMEP, only two were done by USKO, and that all such projects at KIMEP are examined by an independent committee.
In September 2010, the Ministry of Education and Science issued a decree showing an intention to suspend KIMEP's license for a period of six months. The Ministry cited technical issues such as student-teacher ratio, classroom sizes and the templates of diplomas for the suspension. KIMEP filed an appeal against the suspension in Astana and continued to operate. Observers pointed out that the university had been operating for almost two decades, and suggested that the sudden emergence of this problem after such a long period of time was politically motivated. Two weeks later, the Ministry fully reinstated KIMEP’s license, stating that all violations had been resolved. Zhansit Tuimebayev, the Minister of Education and Science who had issued the suspension of KIMEP’s license, was moved to a different government position and replaced by Bakhytzhan Zhumagulov.
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