New concerns over Cardiff University’s offshoot in Kazakhstan

Martin Shipton

Fresh concerns have been raised about Cardiff University’s recently opened branch campus in Kazakhstan after details of its registration with the Kazakh equivalent of Companies House were published.

The decision of the university to set up an offshoot campus in Kazakhstan has been controversial, especially at a time when it has been imposing drastic cuts, including many job losses and school closures, on its home operation in Wales.

It has emerged that the branch campus in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, has been set up as a private company known as Cardiff University Kazakhstan Holdings Ltd.

PricewaterhouseCoopers

Its registered office is in Astana and its registered email address is that of Arman Omirbekov, a senior legal associate with the management consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) in Kazakhstan. Mr Omirbekov graduated from Maqsut Narikbayev University with a bachelor’s degree in law in July 2022. He joined PWC in December 2023 and was promoted to senior legal associate in September 2025, the month Cardiff University’s branch campus in Astana was officially opened.

The university denied rumours that Professor Rudolf Allemann, the Pro Vice Chancellor, International, who led the Cardiff team negotiating the project had fallen out with the Kazakhs. He was not present at the official opening ceremony, and is stepping down from his Pro Vice Chancellor role.

Nevertheless he is listed on the company registration documents in Kazakhstan as a director and authorised signatory. He was also described as being the company’s CEO from May 24 2025 until June 9 2025 – an unusually short period.

On June 9 2025 – the day Prof Allemann stepped down as CEO – two other senior officials of Cardiff University joined the board as directors – Chief Operating Officer and University Secretary Paula Sanderson and Professor Gavin Shaddick, another Pro Vice Chancellor. Ms Sanderson also took over as CEO on the same day..

‘Splashing cash’

A Cardiff University source said: “The registered email address is for PWC, not anyone at Cardiff University. The Director, CEO and Authorised Signatory are listed as Rudi [Allemann], which rather makes all their bluster to you about him always planning to move on to pastures new sound even less convincing. There’s a page under ‘Capital’ listed with info on shares and value, with $1m seems to be what the company is valued at.” Is that right?

The source added: “It’s no surprise that Cardiff University senior management are splashing cash on PWC consultants for their Astana adventure given last minute and half baked the whole thing has been so far. Is this Cardiff University of Price Waterhouse Cooper University? It’s hard to tell the difference sometimes these days. People are really concerned that our executives are gambling on a half-cooked CUK while halfway through a chaotic restructuring and teaching crisis back at home.”

A Cardiff University spokesperson said: “We do not respond to stories based on anonymous sources. If any of our staff, students or campus trade unions have specific questions we would encourage them to raise them directly with the University. We would be happy to respond.”