essay about education system of uzbekistan

Education in Uzbekistan

Located in Central Asia, Uzbekistan has a population of over 26 million people. As the region’s most populated country, the government has taken significant measures to ensure high quality instruction for all children.

The Law on Education, established in 1997, states that all citizens have the right to education in Uzbekistan . After minor revisions, the law also encompasses that citizens are required to attend nine years of primary and secondary schooling. Students are then allowed to either continue with higher education for three years or seek vocational training, education that prepares children for a specific career path.

The Ministry of Public Education and the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education are responsible for all pre-school, general education schools, higher learning establishments and vocational education. Together, they have been working to improve state educational standards and curriculum, reconstruct school buildings and strengthen teachers’ capacities at all levels.

Research shows that access to primary and secondary education in Uzbekistan is above average for the sub-region. The net enrollment rate for primary school is 97 percent, compared to the lesser 92 percent average of the Central Asian countries. Students also have a 100 percent transition rate to secondary school, indicating that the gap in access between primary to secondary school is virtually non-existent.

However, the Government of Uzbekistan does struggle with early childhood education . Only 20 percent of children aged 3 years old to 5 years old are attending preschool, a figure that was much higher prior to independence. The limited access to preschool and primary school for the 130,000 children with disabilities remains an area of primary concern.

Although methods such as homeschooling are available for these children, they have proven insufficient in meeting the educational needs of this young population. There are few schools and teachers with the necessary supplies and training to deal with children with severe disabilities and learning difficulties. Thus school quality has been a recent target for improvement. In 2006, a learning assessment given to a small group of Uzbek students illustrated that only 30 percent of children were considered to be competent in basic mathematic skills. Likewise, a mere 30 percent of children scored above a proficient level in the literacy assessment.

Many attribute the basic levels of math and literacy to the shortage of teachers. Although teacher salaries have been raised, a large gap exists between teacher wages and the average salary in Uzbekistan. Schools not only find it extremely difficult to recruit new prospects, but also to keep experienced teachers.

Although education in Uzbekistan has seen great improvement over the years, a lot more can be done in order to see the country succeed. According to UNICEF, the Government of Uzbekistan has to increase educational access to children in remote areas and those with special needs. In addition, school infrastructure must be structured to accommodate students with disabilities as well as create a safe and workable environment for teachers and students alike. With these changes, there is great hope that children in Uzbekistan will have a bright future ahead of them.

– Leeda Jewayni

Sources: Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency , UNICEF , UNESCO Photo: UNDP

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Narrowing the digital divide in Uzbekistan’s education system: Covid-19 lessons

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The Covid-19 pandemic transformed everyday realities overnight, as most services and activities had to be moved online. Education worldwide was hit hard. As schools and universities shifted to online learning, many schoolchildren and university students were left out. Long-term plans for digitisation had to be implemented within days; a challenge that many developing countries are struggling to cope with.

In Central Asia, shifting from in-person to online learning has been difficult. Many people do not have access to steady electricity, affordable high-speed and uncensored Internet, or reliable devices. Furthermore, the pandemic has also brought to the fore the urgent need to develop the necessary digital skills among various groups, from schoolchildren to teachers, and from policy-makers to civil society. Central Asian republics have taken divergent responses to the pandemic. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan introduced lockdowns in March 2020; in Tajikistan, quarantine measures were only partially implemented; while Turkmenistan still claims to have zero Covid-19 cases. Despite the different responses and approaches to Internet governance and its availability, all Central Asian countries share some common challenges in shifting to online learning. The case of Uzbekistan could apply to the greater region.

Uzbekistan closed all educational institutions in response to the pandemic. While some steps were taken to ensure continuous education, these were not easily accessible to all. Lessons for schoolchildren were broadcasted on mainstream television and were shared on the Ministry of Education’s YouTube channel, to which only a few have access. Lessons for university students moved online, but students and teachers alike suffer from a lack of adequate platforms for online education, a lack of access to technology, and a lack of necessary skills. Given that remote education is likely to continue in the coming academic year for most students, it is imperative that Uzbekistan urgently take several steps in the digital domain. Narrowing the digital divide is of strategic importance. Here are three priorities for policy-makers and other stakeholders to consider:

First, quality access to Internet is insufficient. Internet penetration levels in Uzbekistan have improved in comparison to previous years. According to official data from the Ministry for Development of Information Technologies and Communication of Uzbekistan, as of January 2020, 22 million people, out of a population of 34 million, had access to the Internet. Of these, 19 million were connected via mobile phones and 3 million via computers. However, when operationalising numbers in terms of Internet penetration and access, it is important to consider the type of connection, its speed, and its cost. Having a few megabytes on the phone can be considered as having Internet access for statistical purposes, but it is certainly not enough for remote work or learning. Internet accessibility in remote areas is still low, which largely contributes to the digital divide and inequality among the capital, regional centres, and the periphery.

When addressing the issue of access to the Internet, its speed, and its costs, we also need to consider the steady supply of electricity and access to modern technological devices. Without these basic conditions, it is impossible to deliver or receive online education. Online work or learning implies that several members of any given household need access to devices. The lack of physical access is experienced not only by students but also by educators. Therefore, approaches to solving this first level of the digital divide must be multi-faceted. Supplying schools with technology is one solution, but it is also necessary to ensure that students and educators have continuous and unrestricted access to technology at home. In Kazakhstan, the Connect-Ed initiative, launched by civil society activists, supplies schoolchildren in need with used or new devices donated by organisations and individuals. Such initiatives should be supported by state-level strategies to ensure that those providing and receiving online education have access to the necessary tools.

  Second, digital literacy is another fundamentally important area when talking about narrowing the digital divide in Uzbekistan. Technology is entering all spheres, but the necessary training is not always available. People are now expected to navigate through the labyrinth of new media and digital tools, but without proper training, this could be a risky practice. In Uzbekistan, a common scene is customers handing bank cards to merchants and loudly announcing their PIN codes in front of the wider public. Trying to insert your code independently and in privacy could give the merchant (and those around her/him) the feeling that (s)he cannot be trusted. Whereas certainly there are positive aspects to this level of social trust, such practices may lead to the prevalence of crime and other hazardous outcomes as the country becomes more digital. The bank card example goes beyond individual behaviour and translates into systemic problems, with negligence in the process of instrumentalising new tools.

Digital literacy courses must become an integral part of the education process. Akin to the physical access issue, successful online education practices imply training sessions for students and teachers alike. Courses on specific functional aspects of new education tools must go hand-in-hand with courses on privacy, digital ethics, and online security. Such courses are beneficial for all segments of society, from schoolchildren to decision-makers. Awareness-raising campaigns to promote digital literacy and security could also be helpful in filling the gaps. The Ministry of Education, IT specialists, educators, civil society activists, and international donors should all collaborate to develop digital literacy curricula and campaigns. A concerted effort is important to avoid digital literacy education turning into a censorship-justifying mechanism.

Third,  online freedom and transparency are problematic in Uzbekistan; digital security should not be synonymous with digital autocracy. The tragic irony of offering school lessons via YouTube in Uzbekistan lies in the fact that the platform (along with Facebook, Skype, WhatsApp, and Viber) is often inaccessible. The educational videos posted on the Ministry of Education’s YouTube channel show a few thousand views at best, which is very low compared to the country’s 6.1 million schoolchildren. Combating hate speech and other unacceptable behaviours online is important but a ‘one size fits all’ solution should be avoided. The progress achieved so far in terms of unblocking some websites and platforms must be maintained, and freedom of information guaranteed so that people may have access to a diversity of opinions and perspectives. Unfortunately, however, there is a tendency to emulate Russian- (and other neighbours) style digital governance, often characterised by pressure on platforms to collaborate with state security forces, ubiquitous surveillance, or persecution of social media users.

Corruption slows progress in Uzbekistan’s education system. If done right, shifting to digital tools could promote transparency in the education system. However, such a shift could also be counterproductive and strengthen corruption schemes during entry, mid-term and graduate exams. To avoid malpractice and increase transparency, international involvement, and broad national input are warranted. International partners, such as the European Union, could help Uzbekistan’s government develop the necessary legal frameworks and technological tools to ensure democratic, transparent, and accountable approaches to the digital domain. In this pursuit, it is essential that the local voices of civil society activists, bloggers, watchdogs, and other important actors be included in the discussion.

Urgent steps to secure access to online education need to be taken. The challenges of access, digital literacy, and online freedom are inter-related and inter-dependent and require a comprehensive response. While bringing about unprecedented threats to education, the pandemic could be an opportunity for Uzbekistan to re-evaluate, learn, and reform its approaches to the education sector.

About Author

Rashid Gabdulhakov

As a member of an international team of scholars, Rashid is researching the phenomenon of digital vigilantism (citizen-led justice manifested through social media) in Russia and other former Soviet republics. He has a vast teaching and research experience that he gained in Central Asia, Russia, Europe, and the United States. Rashid has been actively involved with EUCAM fellowship programme through designing and delivering a ‘Media and Security’ workshop. He holds a master’s degree in International and European Security from the University of Geneva and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy; as well as a master’s degree in Politics and Security from the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic.

See author's posts

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For over the years of independence the Republic of Uzbekistan has carried out fundamental, structural and substantive reforms that have encompassed all levels of education system and its components, which were aimed at ensuring its compliance with the long-term objectives and interests of the country, modern requirements, as well as international standards. The appropriate legal framework reforming this sector was created, which defined as a priority the growth of investment, as well as the investments in human capital, training of educated and intellectually developed generation, which is the crucial asset and a decisive force in the achievement of democratic development, modernization and renewal, ensuring stable and sustainable growth of the economy.

At the initiative of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan two important laws - "On Education" and "On the National program for personnel training" were adopted, which laid a solid foundation for the creation of a harmonious system of continuous education of the modern type. As the result of their implementation in short historical period radical transforms happened not only in the form but in essence of the education system of the country.

Today, thanks to the consistent implementation of the provisions of these laws in the country, the national model of personnel training has been formed which is based on the principle of "person - state and society - continuous education - science - production".

The current modern system of continuous education in Uzbekistan consists of preschool, general secondary, specialized secondary and vocational, higher and postgraduate education, training and retraining, as well as extra school education. In this continuous chain of links there is a fundamentally new specialized secondary and vocational education, realized in educational institutions of a new type - the academic lyceums and vocational colleges. This system provides young men and women with an opportunity to get along with general subjects on 2-3 professional skills which are in demand in labor market, as well as the study of one or several foreign languages.

So far, 1556 educational institutions of a new type, including 144 academic lyceums and 1412 vocational colleges have been established in the country, as well as 30 branches of professional colleges in remote areas of the countryside.

Attaching a great importance to continuity among different levels of educational system and taking into account the fundamental nature of general secondary education, for the successful continuation of the process of learning in the institutions of secondary special and professional education, and then in the premises of colleges and universities, the "Nationwide School Education Development Program for 2004-2009" was adopted and successfully implemented.  This document provided for, in particular, a radical renewal and capital reconstruction of buildings and engineering infrastructure of secondary schools, equipping them with modern educational, laboratory and computer equipment, as well as staffing highly qualified teachers.

Fundamental changes have occurred in the organization of the higher education system. Two-level system has been introduced which consists of undergraduate and graduate programs, the qualifier of directions and specialties of education magistrates was approved, each of which the state educational standards were developed and put into practice.

Qualified specialists for the sectors of the economy and the social sphere are trained in 6 areas - humanitarian, social, economics and law, production and technical sphere, agriculture and water management, healthcare and social welfare, services.

For over the years of independence, dozens of new universities have been established. Currently, there are 58 universities, 15 branches of central universities of the republic and 7 branches of leading foreign universities in the country. Among them are the University of Westminster, the Singapore Institute of Management, Turin Polytechnic University, Russian University of Oil and Gas, Moscow State University, Russian University of Economics, Inha University of South Korea. They prepare specialists on several fields such as engineering, oil and gas, information technology, economics and business management, financial management, business law, tourism which are demanded in the labor market. Their graduates receive diplomas recognized throughout the world.

In order to strengthen the integration of science and production, the Institute of Mathematics and the Center for Philosophy at the National University of Uzbekistan, Law Center at the Tashkent State Law University, Center for the development of software products and hardware-software systems at the Tashkent University of Information Technologies, Problem laboratory on ecology at the Samarkand State University have been established.

It should also be noted that during the years of independence the system of education management, training, retraining and advanced training of pedagogical and scientific-pedagogical staff has been radically rebuilt, the content of the educational process was reviewed, the market of educational services is dynamically developing, social guarantees and state support, financing and material technical provisions of the sector is ensured.

In accordance with the Presidential Decree of July 24, 2012 "On further improvement of the system of training and certification of scientific and scientific-pedagogical personnel" and the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers "On measures to further improve the system of postgraduate education and certification of scientific and scientific pedagogical personnel", scientific and educational institutions of the republic are working hard to further improve the system of postgraduate education as continuous education, aimed at meeting the needs of society in the scientific and scientific-pedagogical personnel.

In order to further improve the system of retraining and advanced training of teachers of higher educational institutions, Chief scientific-methodical center for the organization of retraining and advanced training of teaching and managerial personnel of higher education under the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education, 10 sectoral and 5 regional centers for training and professional development of teaching staff of universities have been organized. A unified system of improvement of the quality of educational process in the regional centers is being formed.

The Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan prepared legal documents for the implementation of an improved system, created educational and methodological framework of the educational process. Target activities on the introduction of distance learning in the process of training has been organized, as well as remote training of teaching staff with on-line and off-line technologies based on the national network of e-learning  has also been implemented.

Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated May 20, 2011 "On measures to strengthen the material-technical base and development of higher education institutions and cardinal improvement of the training quality of highly skilled professionals” has been adopted with the purpose of radically increasing the quality of training of specialists with academic degree, who are demanded  in sectors of the economy, on the basis of modernization of material-technical base for higher educational institutions, equipping them with modern educational and scientific and laboratory equipment, optimization of directions and specialties of training of highly qualified personnel, further improving learning technologies, modern curricula, textbooks and teaching aids.

Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers "On measures for further development of computerization and introduction of information and communication technologies" dated June 6, 2002, determines the implementation of information and communication technologies in the educational process and the long-term plan of their performance. The official websites of all universities that are connected to the Internet to meet the needs of students and faculty members in the information have been set up and operating.

At the initiative of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan a project of the "National Network of e-education" has been realized, a network based on fiber-optic communication lines, to which was connected all universities of the country, has been set. These lines are also equipped for video conferencing. Regular video lectures, training seminars and courses of remote training of teaching and managerial personnel of higher education institutions are being organized on the basis of an electronic network. As a result of this project in 2011, 80 university facilities were connected to the network. In 2012, 84 facilities of secondary special and professional education are connected to "e-education" single corporate network. The Centre for the implementation of e-learning in educational institutions at Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan is equipped with state-of-the-art technologies. It was established in accordance with the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of 25 July 2012.

International cooperation in the field of vocational education is actively developing, including on the basis of direct mutually beneficial contacts with foreign university partners.

A series of agreements of the governmental and interdepartmental nature, which are the basis of direct inter-university cooperation with foreign partners have been signed. Universities of Uzbekistan take active part in educational, scientific and technological projects of the European Union's Tempus and Erasmus Mundus, the British Council, the German Academic Exchange Service, the Goethe Institute, the German Technical Center, the Korean and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency, the French and the Egyptian Cultural Centre, Malaysian and India's technical cooperation programs, the UNDP, UNESCO, ETF, ADB and others. All of these projects and programs aim the improvement of the educational and methodical process and the material and technical base, training of teaching staff, innovation and technological development, student exchange.

In the process of reforms new research directions have been developed in higher education system, scientific schools in the field of university researches have been established, in the framework of which urgent problems of the state and public construction, economy, culture, art and technology are solved. Since 2002, the system of grant funding for researches instead of base funding has been implemented, that allows a selective approach to the choice of funded projects and improves their effectiveness.

The reform of postgraduate education is aimed at enhancing the prestige of national science among young people and greater involvement of researchers in the innovative development of the country. The effectiveness of reforms is directly linked to the openness and transparency of scientific activity. In addition, the objective requirement which imposes a three-level model of higher education to the quality of scientific research contents is tested with a wide experience of science organizing in developed countries. The implementation of this model allows Uzbekistan to successfully integrate into the international scientific society.

The main change in the quality of postgraduate education is its closer approximation to international standards and requirements, the creation of an auspicious environment for effective interaction between scientific, educational and industrial structures, ensuring a close connection "education - science - production".

The results of large-scale reforms in education and training, the attention paid to the identification and comprehensive support of talented youth, are clearly reflected in the successes and achievements of young Uzbeks, demonstrating a high level of intellectual training and skills at prestigious national and international competitions, contests and sports competitions.

So, in 2014, 14 of the most talented female students of academic lyceums and professional colleges were awarded the State Prize of Zulfiya, and during all the years of independence 81 girls were awarded this prize.

Every year, the country holds the Republican Olympiad on general subjects among pupils of secondary specialized educational institutions, the winners of which are entitled to enroll in higher education institutions, without passing of tests and examinations.

During the period of 2000-2014 years, 220 students of secondary schools and secondary specialized educational institutions of Uzbekistan participated in the international Olympiads, where they won 6 gold, 28 silver and 65 bronze medals and 40 diplomas were awarded.

In 2014, 122 gifted children of the country won prizes at international music competitions held in Italy, France, Czech Republic, Azerbaijan, Serbia, Latvia, Bulgaria, Russia, Belarus, Romania and other countries.

Thus, summing up the above, it should be emphasized that educational system established in Uzbekistan, and which meets the requirements of time and high standards gives young generation of the country a tremendous opportunity to realize their potential, proves that it trains highly qualified and professional staff, who make a significant contribution to stable and sustainable development of their Homeland.

Jahon Information Agency

 (Courtesy of the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan)

1 : Universitet : � University

2 : Akademiya : � Academy

3 : Institut : � Institute

� Pre-Higher Education System

Pre-Primary :

Length of program: 1

Age level from: 6

Age level to: 7

General Secondary :

Age level from: 7

Age level to: 18

Certificate/Diploma awarded at end: Certificate of Completed Secondary Education

Vocational Secondary :

Age level from: 18

Age level to: 20

Certificate/Diploma awarded at end: Diploma of Secondary Specialized Education

Compulsory pre-primary education of one year at age six was introduced in 2019-2020, with the aim of having 100% enrollment by 2021-2022. General secondary education is compulsory and lasts 11 years, with students having three choices: a) 11 years of study in a general secondary school; b) 9 years in a general secondary school followed by 2 years in an academic lyceum; c) 11 years of study in a general secondary school followed by up to 2 years in a vocational college. Upon completion of, students are awarded either the Certificate of Completed Secondary Education or the Diploma of Secondary Specialized Education.

� Higher Education System

Higher education is provided by universities, academies and institutes. The Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovations is the responsible body that coordinates the educational process in all higher education institutions in Uzbekistan. There are numerous specialized HEIs that are overseen by other sectoral ministries. The State Inspection for the Supervision of Quality in Education (SISQE) was created in 2017 and deals with quality assurance, attestation and accreditation of institutions in the country, with each institution, whether private or public, undergoing attestation every five years.

Law on Education (2020)

National Programme for Personnel Training (1992)

Uzbek, Russian, Kazakh, Tajik, Kyrgyz, Turkmen

University level first stage : Bachelor's degree (Bakalavr)

Description: The Bachelor's degree is the first terminal degree conferred after 4 years of study (5 to 7 years in medical fields). The former degree of Mutaxassis diplomi (Specialist degree) is no longer awarded.

University level second stage : Master's degree (Magistr)

Description: Students can acquire a Master's degree after two-year study, providing deeper understanding of a subject previously studied at Bachelor's level.

University level third stage : Doctorate

Description: The Doctor of Science/Arts degree is conferred after the writing of a major thesis. The qualification of Fan Nomzodi diplomi (Candidate of Science) under the old system (three years' postgraduate study and defence of a thesis) is no longer awarded as of 2013.

Some universities offer correspondence courses using distance-learning technologies.

Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovations of Uzbekistan

Street: Universitet ko‘chasi, 7-uy

City: Taškent

PostCode: 100174

www: http://www.edu.uz

Contacts: - Ibrokhim Abdurakhmonov (Head), Job title : Minister - Komiljon Khamidovich Karimov (Senior Administrative Officer), Job title : First Deputy Minister

State Inspectorate for Supervision of Quality in Education - SISQE

Street: Chilonzor tumani Nurxon ko‘chasi, 21-uy

PostCode: 100115

www: https://www.tdi.uz/uz

Contacts: Ulugbek Negmatovich Tashkenbayev (Head), Job title : Head

Certificate of Completed Secondary Education

Diploma of Secondary Specialized Education

The State Testing Center oversees the competitive admission tests which take place in August each year.

Admission Requirements: Foreign students should hold a secondary education certificate.

� Recognition of Studies

The State Inspection for the Supervision of Quality in Education is in charge of accreditation and licensing.

� Credentials

Description: Secondary school leaving certificate awarded after eleven years of compulsory general secondary education.

Description: Qualification awarded after two years' training at the end of specialized secondary and vocational education.

Bakalavr diplomi

Description: The bachelor's degree is conferred after at least four years' university study (5-7 in medical fields), and provides fundamental and practical knowledge in various specializations. It can allow the holder to continue to Master's studies or enter the workplace.

Magistr diplomi

Description: The Master’s degree is a higher education qualification which provides fundamental and practical knowledge in a specialization, which continues for at least two years, which is based on the previous bachelor’s basis.

Fan Doktori diplomi

Description: Doctoral degree issued to candidates who have submitted a high-quality thesis, based upon individual and original research of social-economic importance, presenting new theories, responses to complex problems and which can be developed and implemented in particular areas of sciences in order to contribute to the development of science, technology, socio-political fields and economic sectors.

� Data Provided by

IAU from EACEA document 'Overview of the Higher Education System in Uzbekistan (2017), World Bank Uzbekistan Education Sector Analysis (2018), and website of the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education, September 2020. Bodies updated April 2023.

Updated on 08-09-2020

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Uzbekistan: Higher Education Reforms and the Changing Landscape Since Independence

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• First Online: 25 April 2018

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• Kobil Ruziev 8 &
• Umar Burkhanov 9  

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This chapter is the first study that carefully documents higher education (HE) reforms in Uzbekistan since the demise of the former Soviet Union. It analyses evolution of the sector with clear emphasis on government policy and its impact on changing the country’s higher education landscape since independence. The study highlights complex interactions between the distinct pre- and post-independence contexts, policy legislation and its implementation on the one hand, and the demands of the new market-based economic system and the requirements of building and strengthening state institutions to support the transition process on the other hand. The paper will show why the country’s peculiar ‘strictly top-down’ approach to reforms has not been successful in improving a number of key areas including access to higher education, and human as well as physical capacities of higher education institutions which ultimately determine the quality of higher education provisioning.

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Introduction.

Higher education (HE) played an important role in the pre-independence period under central planning, as it helped to provide the economy with specialist skills to support the country’s industrialisation drive; it also served as a means through which the prevailing ideology was promoted. HE plays a no less important role in modern market-based economies. In well-functioning meritocratic economic systems, HE can serve as a catalyst for achieving social mobility and cohesion, matching individual aspirations and societal goals in the process.

Uzbekistan has a long tradition of HE, albeit in a narrower sense of the term. It inherited territory mostly comprising the three independent khanates (kingdoms ruled by Khans ) centred in Bukhara, Khiva and Kokand, which ruled central Asia between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. The education system in pre-Soviet times in central Asia, also known as Turkistan at the time, included maktabs (schools) and madrasas (colleges), both funded by landed estates and charitable donations. Maktabs taught basic reading and writing skills, and more talented students went to study at madrasas by the age of 14, where they would spend another 10 years studying theology, literature, law, philosophy and other worldly wisdom (Allworth 1994; Majidov et al. 2010 ). One of the universities in modern Uzbekistan, Samarkand State University, claims to be a spiritual heir to Samarkand’s well-known fifteenth century Madrasai Oliya (Higher Madrasa) established by Timurid king and astronomer Ulugbek, where advanced math and astronomy were also taught. The country’s first modern and secular HE institution, Turkistan National University, was created in April 1918 in Tashkent under Soviet rule. The name of the university has changed several times since then: to Central Asian State University in 1923, Tashkent State University in 1960 and finally to the National University of Uzbekistan in 2000.

This chapter is the first study that carefully documents the evolution of higher education reforms in Uzbekistan since the demise of the Soviet Union (SU). It examines key HE reforms undertaken in Uzbekistan since independence and analyses the impact of these reforms on the changing landscape of the HE system in the country. The study highlights complex interactions between policy legislation and its implementation on the one hand, and the demands of the new market-based economic system and the requirements of building and strengthening state institutions on the other hand.

In the next section, we provide brief background information on Uzbekistan’s unique approach to transition, as it closely resonates with the country’s HE system reforms. The basic determinants of HE demand since independence are discussed in the section ‘ Determinants of HE Demand ’. In the section ‘ Key HE Reforms Since Independence ’, we discuss the key characteristics of the HE system at the time of independence and examine fundamental and systematic HE reforms introduced since 1991. The impact of HE reforms in shaping the current HE landscape in the country is analysed in the section ‘ Reforms and the Current Landscape of HE ’. Finally, discussions and concluding remarks are presented in the section ‘ Discussion and Concluding Remarks ’.

Uzbekistan’s General Approach to Economic Reforms

Unprecedented political and economic developments that swept across the former communist bloc countries in the late 1980s and the early 1990s did not leave Uzbekistan unaffected. Similar to other former Soviet republics, the country gained its independence in 1991 after the dissolution of the SU. The disintegration of the SU was seen by many as final proof of the triumph of a market-based economic system over one that is centrally planned. Following the prevailing euphoric expectations at the time about the advantages of a market-based economic system, Uzbekistan also joined other post-communist economies and committed itself to a transition towards a market economy.

Transition from a centrally planned economy to a market-based economy, as promoted by influential international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, required fundamental and comprehensive reforms in both sociopolitical and economic spheres of life. In terms of the former, this entailed a move away from a single-party administrative bureaucratic system towards a multiparty civil society based on democratic institutions and a replacement of communist ideology with a national ideology that was consistent with free market principles. In terms of the latter, this involved the introduction and protection of private property rights, privatisation of state-owned enterprises and facilitation of private entrepreneurial initiatives. Further institutional reforms in the monetary, banking, fiscal and judiciary systems, as well as price liberalisation and the achievement of macroeconomic stabilisation, were needed to support the transformation process. Changing the structure and composition of disciplines taught at higher education institutions (HEIs) and reorienting the priorities of the HE system were equally important as the system prepared personnel for the new economic system and social order.

Although the Uzbek government agreed with the essence of this comprehensive reform package, its gradualist approach to transition was unique in terms of the pace, sequencing and prioritisation of reforms, resulting in the so-called Uzbek model of economic development (Pomfret 2000 ). The Uzbek model emphasised, among other things, the guiding role of the state during transition, the precedence of economics over politics and a gradualist approach to reform implementation (Karimov 1995 , 1998 ). Hence, in principle, Uzbekistan adopted a ‘developmental state’ approach to transition: the authorities decided to maintain complete control over the ‘commanding heights’ of the economy, including the HE sector as well as the transport, communications and media industries and the financial, agricultural and extractive sectors.

The regulations allow the entry of small-scale private enterprises to certain sectors such as finance and agriculture, but large organisations with systemic importance remain state-owned and hence state-controlled. In other sectors, such as HE and extractive industries, no direct private sector participation is permitted. It is therefore not surprising that Uzbekistan’s general approach to HE reforms has been described as top-down and strictly centralised, offering little or no autonomy to HEIs in matters concerning course design, student intake and management of own finances (Weidman and Yoder 2010 ).

Determinants of HE Demand

The supply of and demand for HE services play equally important roles in shaping the structure of a national HE sector. Public policy and regulation ultimately determine the quantity of HE supply and at what cost it will be provided. The key demand-side factors, on the other hand, include structural transformation of the economy, improvements in per capita income levels, demographic conditions, and the changing aspirations and preferences of the general public. Before embarking on a detailed analysis of HE policy and regulation, we will briefly discuss some of these demand-side phenomena.

With a population of over 20 million, Uzbekistan was the third largest former Soviet republic in 1990 after the Russian Federation and the Ukraine. It was, however, one of the poorest and least industrialised countries of the Soviet Union: its per capita income level in 1988 was only 62 % of the USSR average and the share of industrial production in GDP was 33 % in 1990 (Ruziev et al. 2007 ). The country’s population increased from around 21 million in 1991 to around 31 million in 2014 (ADB 2015 ). Further, the share of 14- to 24-year-olds in the general population expanded by over 1 million between 1990 and 2015, which highlights a significant growth in demand for HE services during independence.

Figure 17.1 shows data on the changing structure of the economy during independence. In 1993, in terms of the national income, agriculture accounted for 36 %; manufacturing, mining, energy and construction jointly accounted for 35 %; public administration, trade and transport for around 10 %; and financial and other services for the remaining 19 %. As the economy slowly moved towards a free market system, some sectors shrunk and others expanded in relative size. The most notable changes can be observed in relation to agriculture, which fell by almost half, to 17 % of GDP by 2012, and services, which increased from around 30 % of GDP in 1993 to more than 50 % of GDP in 2012. Although the share of manufacturing, mining and energy in the national income remained relatively stable during this time, the composition changed. While some industries shrank in size or disappeared (agricultural machine building shrank, and airplane building industries disappeared), others emerged and expanded (a strong automotive industry emerged, and the mining and energy sectors expanded).

Share of GDP by industrial origin in Uzbekistan, 1993–2012 (Source: ADB ( 2015 ))

As the composition of the economy changed, so did the structure of the demand for labour. As can be seen in Fig. 17.2 , in 1991 more than 40 % of the employed labour force worked in agriculture, 14 % in industry and the rest in other sectors. By 2012, only 27 % of the employed labour force worked in agriculture, 13 % in industry and the remaining 60 % in the services sector. The growing importance of services is a natural phenomenon, as the sector was underdeveloped in the centrally planned economy. Further, the demand for services is expected to increase even more with rising per capita income levels: it is estimated that four of every five new jobs created in the economy between 2010 and 2030 will be in the services sector (World Bank 2014 , 28).

Employment by economic sector in Uzbekistan, 1991–2012 (Source: ADB ( 2015 ))

In terms of economic performance, the size of the economy expanded and per capital income levels also rose notably during transition, after a slight dip in the early 1990s (Ruziev et al. 2007 ). The economy has experienced strong and sustained growth of around 8 % per year since the mid-2000s. The country’s GDP, measured in current US dollars, grew from around $US13 billion in 1990 to more than $US63 billion in 2014. In PPP dollar terms, it grew from $US62 billion in 1990 to around $US165 billion in 2014 (World Bank 2015 ). Per capita income levels also rose during this period. GDP per capita rose from around $US650 in 1990 to more than $US2000 in 2014 in current US dollars, and from around $US3000 in 1990 to $US5300 in 2014 in PPP dollar terms. In terms of income distribution, limited available data indicate an inverted U-shaped behaviour for the period between 1988 and 2003: the Gini coefficient was 24 in 1988, 44 in 1998, 36 in 2000 and 35 in 2003 (World Bank 2015 ).

The demand for HE increased strongly during independence in response to changing economic conditions and demographic dynamics, necessitating a supply-side transformation in the HE sector. In line with a generally cautious and gradualist approach by the authorities to transition, however, HE sector reforms were introduced only slowly and gradually. Some important changes, although ad hoc in nature, were introduced in the first half of the 1990s. These included the enactment of the Law on Education in 1992 combined with growth of student intakes in accounting, banking, economics and other business related disciplines, which were deemed particularly important in the early years of transition. Truly fundamental and systematic reforms, however, were not introduced until the second half of the 1990s.

Key HE Reforms Since Independence

Upon independence in 1991, Uzbekistan inherited an education system that was organisationally and structurally similar to those found in other members of the Former Soviet Union (FSU). As can be seen in Table 17.1 , in 1988–89 there were 43 HEIs in Uzbekistan, including 40 specialised institutes and 3 comprehensive universities. Around 310,000 students studied 5-year taught degree courses in these HEIs, of which around 45 % were enrolled in evening and correspondence courses (Brunner and Tillett 2007 , 158). Almost half of the student population specialised in education, a quarter in industry and construction, around 10 % in agriculture, and the rest in other areas such as healthcare and sports, transport and communications, and economics and law (Goskomstat 1989 ). With approximately 15 % of the relevant age cohort studying at HEIs in 1991, access to higher education in the country was among the lowest in the former Soviet Union (UNDP 2008 ).

Of the 40 specialised institutes that concentrated on specific fields of knowledge such as agriculture and medicine, 14 were teacher-training institutes specialising in education, 10 in engineering and technical studies, 7 in medical-pharmaceutical studies, 3 in agricultural studies, 3 in arts and culture, 3 in national economy and cooperative services, and 1 in physical training and sports. The three comprehensive universities offered HE courses in a wide range of specialisations, except for medicine, and were also larger, collectively accounting for around 12 % of the overall student population. The universities were better funded in terms of physical infrastructure and human capital, more prestigious and located in major politically and economically important cities such as Tashkent (the capital city since 1930), Samarkand (Uzbekistan’s first capital city until 1930 and the country’s cultural centre) and Nukus (the capital of the Karakalpak Autonomous Republic).

Another peculiar feature of the pre-independence HE system in Uzbekistan was that almost half of all HEIs were located in Tashkent, where around 60 % of the student population studied (see the last two columns of Table 17.1 ). The concentration of HEIs in Tashkent was influenced by a combination of factors. First, most manufacturing industries in pre-independence Uzbekistan were concentrated in and around Tashkent, which made the city the most prosperous administrative region in the country; its per capita output exceeded the national average by more than two and a half times. Second, Tashkent was the largest regional city in central Asia with a population of around 2 million in 1990 and had been historically seen as a higher education hub for the country and the central Asian region. For example, the National University of Uzbekistan bore the name the Central Asian University until 1960, and the Tashkent Institute of Paediatric Medicine was called the Central Asian Institute of Paediatric Medicine until 1988. Both played regionally important roles in central Asia at certain points in their history. Third, as a rule, almost all regions had teacher-training institutes. Regionally important agricultural and medical institutes existed only in some regions such as Samarkand and Andijan. Other regions such as Bukhara and Qashqadarya, which had strong natural gas and associated processing industries, also hosted technical institutes.

Reforms were introduced to the general education system only gradually, particularly the HE sector. The Law on Education, which was enacted on 2 July 1992, provided the legal foundations and laid the underlying philosophical principles for carrying out further reforms in the education system. It emphasised, among other things, a secular and ideology-free nature for the new education system. The timeline of the key HE changes since independence is illustrated in Fig. 17.3 below.

Timeline of key changes in HE since independence

Several new HEIs were created in quick succession in the early 1990s, taking the total number of HEIs in the country to 58 by 1995–96. Twelve of these new HEIs were institutes which specialised in business studies, law, engineering and medicine. Two were specialised universities which focussed on foreign languages and international relations, respectively, and only one was a comprehensive university established on the foundations of a regional teacher-training institute. The rationale for setting up these new HEIs was dictated by the demands of the new economic system and new statehood, which necessitated strengthening and expanding state institutions. For example, transition to a market economy required a considerable expansion of the financial sector to ease the financing constraints of the emerging private sector. Further, the decentralisation of inter-enterprise relations, coupled with the exponential increase in the number of small and medium enterprises, necessitated the enlargement of the tax collection apparatus to fill the state coffers. In response, some new HEIs were established such as the Tashkent Institute of Finance and the Tax Academy, and new finance departments were created in comprehensive universities and other HEIs specialising in business studies. Likewise, independent statehood also required establishing new state ministries and agencies such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry for Foreign Economic Relations and the State Customs Agency. It also required expanding others such as the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Ministry of Defence to maintain the law and patrol the national borders. In the short term, personnel shortages in these areas were filled by selecting and retraining teacher-training graduates who were in relatively abundant supply by default. The authorities set up new specialist HEIs, also expanding the profiles of existing ones, as a longer-term solution to prepare specialists for new and emerging sectors. The decision-making process was centralised at the top of the government structure and each decision was supported by an individual presidential decree. Most of the new HEIs were created by dividing existing HEIs and only a few were created as entirely new institutions.

For example, the Tashkent Institute of Finance and the Tashkent State University of Economics emerged from the foundations of the former Public Economy Institute. The World Economy and Diplomacy University, which focussed on preparing specialists for state institutions in the areas of international economic and political affairs, was freshly established in 1992 at a venue previously occupied by the former Communist Party School in Tashkent. The Samarkand State Institute of Foreign Languages was created in 1994 to prepare specialists for tourism industries. The Navoiy State Institute of Mining was set up in 1995 to prepare specialists for mining and other related industries in the region. The Andijan State Institute of Mechanical Engineering was created in 1995 to prepare specialists for the emerging automotive industry in the Andijan region, where the government had previously established an automobile production plant in 1992. The Tashkent State Aviation Institute (TSAI) was created in 1995 on the basis of several institutions, including the Aviation Engineering Faculty of the Tashkent Polytechnic Institute, the Tashkent branch of the Kiev International Institute of Civil Aviation Engineering and the Tashkent Aviation College, to cater for the needs of the country’s aviation industry. However, the aviation industry struggled to survive in the post-independence period and the country’s only airplane construction plant went bankrupt in 2010. Anticipating this outcome, the authorities disbanded TSAI and merged it with the Tashkent State Polytechnic University in 2008.

Several private HEIs briefly emerged in the first few years of independence. Generally, these institutions had low entry requirements, and most were not adequately resourced in terms of personnel and physical infrastructure. Only one of these institutions, the Tashkent Institute for International Economic Relations and Entrepreneurship (TIIERE), was able to obtain an official licence. However, fearing sub-standardisation of HE degrees, the government soon decided not to allow any private sector involvement in HE, resulting in the demise of a newly emerging market segment. TIIERE’s licence was also revoked just a few weeks after the start of the academic year in 1993. To this day, all HEIs in the country with the exception of foreign university branches remain publicly owned.

The reorganisation of HE entrance examination rules, which attempted to remove abusive discretion from the HE examination process, was arguably the most significant reform of the early 1990s. Admissions to HEIs before independence were based on oral and/or written entrance examinations, usually in three relevant subject areas, administered locally at each HEI. However, public concerns about the subjectivity of such exams and their susceptibility to corruption grew especially strong in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. In order to radically improve fairness of access to HE and to limit widespread corruption practices, a new centralised testing system based on multiple choice questions and an automated marking system was piloted in selected HEIs in 1993. The new system of testing HE candidates was formally adopted across all HEIs (except those specialising in performance-based disciplines such as arts and sports) in 1994. The State Test Centre (STC), accountable directly to the Cabinet of Ministers, was formally set up in May 1994 to administer the new HE entrance examination system. The new system is meritocratic, at least in principle, which contributes to the deepening of vertical differentiation amongst HEIs. As a rule, applicants need to score more than 85 % to study traditionally lucrative fields such as law, medicine and business in HEIs specialising in these fields, and the competition for places at Tashkent-based HEIs offering similar subjects is usually even fiercer.

As elsewhere in the FSU, HE was universally free in pre-independence Uzbekistan: there were no tuitions fees and students were paid stipends, scaled on academic performance, to cover living expenses. But the Uzbek authorities changed this tradition partially in 1994 by introducing a dual-track funding formula for HE tuition fees. Under the new funding scheme, only some HE places were publicly funded, the so-called grant places, and the remaining places were privately funded, the so-called contract places. The Cabinet of Ministers centrally determines the total number of grant and contract places. It takes into account HE demand as well as labour market conditions in its decision making (World Bank 2014 ). The allocation of fixed grant places, which are subject to an annual review, are merit-based depending on entrance examination results, with top performers being offered government grants. The distribution of grant places varies across disciplines depending on demand conditions and market rewards for graduates. For example, in 2015–16, the share of grant places in total student places was around 10 % for law and jurisprudence, 16 % for economics, 35 % for medicine, 50 % for mathematics and around 55 % for physics and chemistry. However, the process is not transparent, which makes it difficult to judge whether or not the authorities also take into account institutional selectivity in their decision making. Whether they are funded publicly or privately, students are still offered merit-based monthly stipends as in the past. Those with government funding are expected to work in government-owned enterprises once they graduate, usually for about 2 years. But in practice this is not monitored strictly, as neither government bodies nor HEIs can guarantee work placement opportunities to graduates.

Although the reforms of the early 1990s changed the nature of the HE system to a considerable extent, the institutional structure of the system remained relatively intact. Comprehensive reforms requiring a complete overhaul of the entire education system were initiated only in the second half of the 1990s. The government’s vision for the education system was formulated in an official reform programme, ‘The National Programme for Personnel Training’ (NPPT), which became law in August 1997. The programme was born from government belief in the non-reversibility of the move towards a market-based economy and an appreciation of the fact that developing an education system consistent with market principles was vital in pursuit of economic prosperity (ADB 2004 , 94). Nevertheless, the NPPT was still an embodiment of the government’s strictly top-down approach to HE reforms, as it did not grant HEIs any autonomy in important matters such as designing new HE courses and managing own finances.

The NPPT aimed at creating an education system that reflected national values, met personal aspirations and produced highly qualified specialists that the new economic system demanded; it was also seen as an opportunity to formally and comprehensively de-ideologise the education curriculum, and to increase the range and structure of degree programmes offered at HEIs. The NPPT was a state-initiated and fully funded programme involving a strict top-down implementation plan coordinated by the Cabinet of Ministers and aided by other government institutions such as the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialised Education (MHSSE), and various other ministries linked to particular HEIs (e.g. the Ministry of Health is linked to medical HEIs).

The NPPT set out clear timescales to achieve its reform targets. Stage 1, which covered 1997–2001, involved the creation of an appropriate infrastructure necessary for the implementation of the programme, which included developing new curricula, teaching and learning resources, and exploring alternative HE funding sources. Stage 2, which covered 2001–2005, set out to promote a nationwide drive for the development of teaching content including textbooks as well as electronic and online learning materials. It also reorganised the existing 5-year academic degree courses, and research-based aspirantura and doktorantura programmes into Bologna Process Bachelor degrees (4 years), Master degrees (2 years) and PhD programmes. And Stage 3, which covered the period beyond 2005, was intended to fine-tune the programme after the first 5 years of implementation. In May 2011, the government adopted a new programme, covering 2011–2016, which focusses on improving physical and human resources at HEIs including upgrading information-technology facilities and raising the quality of HE degrees and courses. Despite its importance, the NPPT only set the general direction of reforms; establishing new HEIs and expanding existing ones were determined on the basis of individual presidential decrees and resolutions from the Cabinet of Ministers.

Reforms and the Current Landscape of HE

As a result of the reforms mostly associated with the NPPT, both HEI and full-time student numbers increased significantly in the post-independence period. The number of HEIs affiliated with the MHSSE increased from 43 in 1989 to 78 in 2015, and the number of full-time students increased from around 180,000 to around 250,000 during this time. However, HE courses offered in the evenings and by correspondence were gradually phased out by the late 1990s, thereby effectively making HE study a full-time preoccupation. The relatively poor quality of these programmes in terms of design, delivery and student engagement was the main rationale behind the government’s decision. The reforms also affected the vertical and horizontal organisational structure of the HE system. Table 17.2 provides some information about the horizontal diversity of the HE sector in terms of types of HEIs. HEIs can be classified into six types under the new HE system, which are comprehensive universities, specialised universities, institutes, academies, regional branches of specialised HEIs and branches of foreign universities. Of the 78 HEIs in Uzbekistan in 2015, 11 were comprehensive universities, 9 were specialised universities, 36 were specialised institutes (including the Higher School of National Dance and Choreography and the Uzbek State Conservatoire), 2 were academies, 13 were regional branches of domestic HEIs and 7 were branches of international HEIs. All domestic HEIs in Uzbekistan are state-owned.

With the exception of the three universities that existed before independence, the new comprehensive universities were created on the foundations of the former regional teacher-training pedagogic institutes. Comprehensive universities, for example, the National University, the Samarkand State University and the Ferghana State University, are the largest of the HEIs in terms of both student numbers and the number of taught specialisations. As a rule, institutes considered relatively important in their area of specialisation with large student populations are given official ‘university’ status. These specialised universities, for example, the Tashkent State University of Economics, the University of the World Economy and Diplomacy and the Tashkent State Technical University, offer programmes in narrower areas of specialisation and are smaller in size compared to comprehensive universities.

In terms of regional branches of domestic HEIs, these belong to Tashkent-based HEIs and are established by government decrees in regional capitals to improve HE access in the regions. For example, the Tashkent Institute of Pediatric Medicine opened a branch in Nukus in 1991, and the Tashkent Academy of Medicine opened branches in Urgench in 1992 and Ferghana in 1998. The Tashkent University of Information Technologies opened branches in Samarkand, Ferghana, Qarshi, Nukus and Urgench in 2005. The Uzbek State Institute of Arts and Culture opened a branch in Nukus in 2008. The Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Melioration opened a branch in Bukhara in 2010. And finally, the Tashkent State Dental Institute opened branches in Andijan and Bukhara in 2015.

Academies are leading scientific-methodological centres in specific fields, so their status is more superior compared to that of universities and institutes. They offer postgraduate degrees and continuous professional development (CPD) as well as executive retraining courses; some, for example, the Academy of Medicine, also offer undergraduate degrees. For example, the Banking and Finance Academy, considered to be the most prestigious HEI in the area of banking and finance, offers postgraduate studies and regularly runs CPD workshops and executive retraining courses for banking and finance specialists.

Foreign university branches (FUBs), which are set up as public-private partnerships (World Bank 2014 ), are a relatively new phenomenon in Uzbekistan’s HE system and are the result of a government initiative. In the late 1990s, the government experimented with competitively selecting up to 800 HE students annually from Uzbek HEIs and funding their HE studies in advanced economies such as the USA, the UK, Germany and Japan. The government saw the establishment of FUBs as a cost-effective alternative to this scheme, as they offered internationally recognised HE courses at home, and hence ensured greater positive externalities and spill-over in terms of specialist preparation.

The Russian Economics University was the first FUB to establish a branch in Uzbekistan in 2001. London-based Westminster University established a branch in Tashkent in 2002. The next FUB was opened in 2006 by the Moscow State University. The Russian Oil and Gas University and the Management Development Institute of Singapore opened Tashkent branches in 2007. The Turin Polytechnic University, Italy, opened a branch in 2009, and Inha University, South Korea, opened a branch in 2014. FUBs administer their entrance tests independently and enjoy complete autonomy on curriculum design. However, mostly due to regulation, FUBs have not yet grown into serious players in the HE market: their combined student population was less than 6000 in 2015–16, which is less than 3 % of the country’s HE student population.

Figure 17.4 illustrates a peculiar HE sector structure that emerged in the post-independence period. HEIs are subject to multiple layers of accountability, resulting in the duplication of administrative control, which limits the capacity of the MHSSE to strategically manage the HE system. It also limits the HE system’s ability to flexibly adapt to changes (Weidman and Yoder 2010 , 63). The Cabinet of Ministers, which sits at the top of the governance hierarchy, is in charge of all key decisions concerning the HE system. It sets the state educational standards and determines funding methods, number of study streams and student enrolment numbers including the proportion of enrolment places that are publicly funded. It also approves senior management appointments at HEIs and sets HEI strategies. The STC administers HE entrance examinations and carries out HEI accreditation and ranking. The role of the MHSSE in managing the HE sector is therefore mostly complementary and limited to HEI supervision, approval of secondary legislation, provision of methodological guidance and organisation of the academic year. The administrational influence of the MHSSE over HEIs is further weakened by the fact that of the 78 HEIs supervised by the MHSSE, 27 are also accountable to various ministries and state agencies to which they are formally attached. For example, the Academy of Medicine is attached to the Ministry of Health and the University of Agriculture is attached to the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources.

Hierarchical structure of the higher education system in Uzbekistan

In addition to the 78 HEIs affiliated with the MHSSE, there are several other providers of specialist HE training which are outside the influence of the MHSSE, as depicted in the bottom left corner of Fig. 17.4 . These institutions specialise in personnel preparation for various state departments and agencies. Some of the HEIs belonging to this category are directly linked with various government offices serving national security and upholding the rule of law, such as the National Security Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Others have more civilian credentials, for example, the Academy for State and Social Construction under the Office of the President, the Graduate School of Business under the Cabinet of Ministers and the Banking and Finance Academy affiliated with the Bankers’ Association. All of these HEIs are accountable directly to the Cabinet of Ministers and respective government ministries to which they are attached, and little information is publicly available on internal factors such as student enrolment figures and funding models.

Given Uzbekistan’s peculiar context, it is difficult to differentiate HEI diversity in terms of status and prestige afforded by legislature. For example, all HEIs with the exception of regional HEI branches are allowed to offer undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD courses. In de facto terms, however, specialist institutions supporting state bodies are considered the most prestigious by both the general public and civil service institutions, as they play an important role in elite regeneration. As proxies for talent, HE certificates from these institutions are often used as the minimum requirement for appointment to relatively important bureaucratic positions. They are followed in order of importance by academies, comprehensive universities, specialist universities and institutes. Anecdotal evidence from HE insiders at the time of this study suggests that the most senior positions in academies and universities are appointed by the president, while those in institutes are decided by the Cabinet of Ministers.

Due to data limitations, we cannot construct any robust measures of quality ranking indicators across HEIs. However, the information presented in Table 17.3 can provide a rough guide on the diversity of quality across HEIs. The results are based on our judgement in terms of demand, selectivity and general public perception of prestige accorded to individual HEIs. As can be seen from Table 17.3 , academies and branches of foreign universities are all highly regarded. Most of the comprehensive and specialised universities in the table are ranked ‘medium’ on the basis of ‘average’ quality perception across all fields with varying popularity. Institutes score the most variable ranking and this is mostly related to area of specialisation; those specialising in lucrative fields are in high demand, and hence are more selective and highly regarded by the general public.

Figure 17.5 illustrates the geographic distribution of HEIs and their student populations across the country in 2012–13, another measure of horizontal diversity. The vertical axis measures the population and the horizontal axis measures the number of students studying in each of the 14 administrative regions in the country. The size of the bubbles measures the number of HEIs in each region. Almost half of all HEIs were based in Tashkent in the pre-independence period. Although a number of HEIs have been created across the regions since the early 1990s, a disproportionately high number of HEIs are still located in Tashkent city: 34 out of 78. Of the approximately 252,000 students enrolled in HEIs in 2012–13, around 40 % studied in Tashkent. The figure is a slight improvement from the pre-independence figure of 60 %, which is mainly due to the transformation of regional teacher-training institutes into comprehensive universities and size expansion as a result of the government’s attempt to improve HE access in periphery regions.

Geographic distribution of HEIs and student population in 2012–13 (Source: MHSSE ( 2013 ))

The number of full-time students studying at HEIs increased noticeably during the post-independence period. However, more robust measures of HE access that take into account population demographics and HE demand dynamics depict a gloomy picture. The number of HE graduates per 10,000 people dropped from around 28 in 1993 to around 14 in 2001; similar, but less dramatic, trends can be observed regarding the gross enrolment rates (number of HE students divided by the number of 19- to 24-year-olds), which fell from around 15 in 1991 to around 9 in 2012 (World Bank 2014 , 23).

Additional data that sheds further light on this matter is presented in Fig. 17.6 , which illustrates the growing mismatch between the demand for and the supply of HE places between 1996 and 2014. The number of HE applications, which measures the effective demand for HE, increased from 106,000 in 1996 to more than 540,000 in 2014; a more than fivefold increase in demand. Unfortunately, HE enrolment places as a measure of supply increased only modestly during this period, from around 49,000 in 1996 to 58,000 in 2014. As a result, the mismatch between HE demand and supply has widened significantly since 1996. Furthermore, the number of applicants per 100 HE places increased from 342 in 1989 (Balzer 1992 , 178) to 938 in 2014; an almost threefold increase.

Demand for and supply of higher education places, 1996–2014 (Source: MHSSE (2015))

The observed mismatch between HE supply and demand can be explained partly by the changes observed in population demographics and improvements in per capita income levels since independence. However, the authorities’ conscious choice to expand secondary specialised education (SSE) at the expense of HE also contributed to the increasing mismatch between HE demand and supply. The implicit argument behind the government’s choice was that, given the relatively unsophisticated state of the national economy which relied largely on commodity production, services and small-scale manufacturing, the economy would be best served by the expansion and modernisation of the vocational education sector (Ruziev and Burkhanov 2016 ). The expansion of the SSE sector lowered the labour market return on middle education and encouraged a greater number of SSE graduates to seek entry into HE. This, coupled with the rigidity of HE supply and the fact that applicants are given only one single university choice each year, created a bottleneck effect as unsuccessful but ambitious applicants attempted HEI entry the following year. Therefore, it is no surprise that in 2014 the number of applicants for HE places exceeded the number of secondary and SSE graduates by about 8 %.

Furthermore, the data on HE student specialisations from 2007 to 2012 shows that the distribution of specialisations was driven mostly by the government’s policy priorities rather than being in line with changing economic conditions (World Bank 2014 ). Despite the changing structure of the economy as described in Figs. 17.1 and 17.2 , the distribution of the student population across most of the broad specialisation areas did not change notably during this period: around 5–7 % of students specialised in transport and communications, 7–10 % in economics and law, around 8 % in healthcare and around 1 % in other disciplines such as arts. Furthermore, although the share of agricultural production in the country’s output nearly halved, the share of students specialising in agriculture fell only marginally from 9 % in 1989 to 7 % in 2012. The most dramatic changes, however, occurred in relation to education. The success of the government’s decision to fundamentally reform and expand the SSE sector depended on the availability of subject-specialist teacher trainers for professional colleges. Subsequently, more than half of HE entrance places were allocated to education. Of the approximately 300,000 HE students studying in the peak period in 2009, around 170,000 specialised in education. Since then the number of students specialising in education has fallen by about 45,000, also driving the overall student population down to around 250,000 by 2012.

The analysis of supply and demand factors in HE indicates an urgent need for the expansion of HE supply. However, this has to be done without sacrificing quality standards. The existing human resource capacity of the HE system seems inadequate for this task; as can be seen in Table 17.4 , which details the highest academic qualifications of full-time academic HEI staff in 2013, almost two-thirds had no scientific qualifications. In addition, Uzbekistan’s HE system scores low in important human capital indicators such as the number of patent applications and journal publications. In 2009, the number of patent applications per million people was only 19, and the number of technical and scientific journal publications per million was only 5 (World Bank 2014 , 8). The relatively poor quality of human capital at HEIs hinders the HE sector’s contribution to overall economic performance in terms of research and innovation; more importantly, it also significantly constrains the government’s future attempts to expand access to HE.

Uzbekistan spends around 8–10 % of GDP on its education system, a relatively high figure given Uzbekistan’s per capital income level (Weidman and Yoder 2010 ; World Bank 2014 ). However, only a small proportion of this budget is spent on HE; in fact, the share of HE spending on education declined from 10 % in 1990 to around 5 % in 2013 (World Bank 2014 , 72). This is partly explained by the authorities’ conscious attempt to fund an increasingly higher proportion of HE expenditure through private (personal) financing. With the introduction of private funding in the form of HE tuition fees, the share of government funding for HE enrolment places decreased from 100 % in 1990 to around 33 % in 2015 (MHSSE 2015). In 2013, the average tuition fee for domestic HEIs was around US$1400 and for international HEIs around US$4400 (World Bank 2014 , 62). Another peculiarity of Uzbekistan’s HE funding model is that up to 40 % of the HE system budget is spent on student stipends, of which only one-third comes from the state budget (World Bank 2014 , 80).

Discussion and Concluding Remarks

Uzbekistan has undertaken important reforms in its HE sector since becoming independent in 1991, which significantly changed the country’s HE landscape. Initially in the early 1990s, some important albeit ad hoc reforms were implemented. But this changed when the NPPT was formulated and made into a national law in 1997, transforming the structure and organisation of the HE system drastically. The most important changes since independence can be highlighted as follows: introduction of an automated entrance examination scheme overseen by the STC; adoption of a Bologna Process-style three-cycle HE system comprised of Bachelor, Master and Doctorate programmes; allowing the entry of foreign HEIs into the HE system; and moving away from a fully public HE funding model towards a system that increasingly relies on personal financing. The variety of HEIs and the number of students studying full time also changed during this period. HEI numbers increased from 43 in 1989 to 78 in 2015 and types of HEIs now include academies, comprehensive universities, specialised universities, institutes, regional branches and FUBs.

The demands of the new market-based economic system and the requirements of building and strengthening state institutions to support the transition process were the key drivers for HE reforms; these are factors inspired by global events beyond the control of the national authorities. Uzbekistan’s general approach to transition has been about managing, rather than resisting, the prevailing ‘winds of global change’. Therefore, although the creation of new HEIs, including expanding taught HE subject disciplines, was dictated by global trends, ultimately the state is still the main initiator and implementer of HE sector reforms. This strictly top-down approach to reforms, however, has not been successful in improving a number of key areas including management and organisation of HEIs, access to HE, and quality of human and physical capital at HEIs.

The current structure of HE management, with several levels of official control over HEI activity, is too rigid to adjust the provision of HE services to the changing needs of a dynamic market economy. To date, student enrolment numbers as well as the number of study streams and subject areas, and even curriculum content, are all presided by various government departments. Despite generating more than two-thirds of their funding from the private sector, HEIs are unable to use these funds freely, including in matters concerning staff remuneration. As a result, staff salaries are generally low and do not incentivise a sufficient number of talented individuals to commit themselves to, invest in, and remain in the long-term. Further, although HE enrolment numbers increased during the early years of independence, this did not take into account demographic factors and changing demand conditions. As a result, the mismatch between the demand for and supply of HE increased considerably in the post-independence period.

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Ruziev, K., Burkhanov, U. (2018). Uzbekistan: Higher Education Reforms and the Changing Landscape Since Independence. In: Huisman, J., Smolentseva, A., Froumin, I. (eds) 25 Years of Transformations of Higher Education Systems in Post-Soviet Countries. Palgrave Studies in Global Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52980-6_17

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Education System in Uzbekistan

• PTU or Professional Technical School: Students receive a Junior Specialist Diploma equal to a Certificate of Complete Secondary Education.
• Technical College: Students receive a Junior Specialist Diploma equal to a Certificate of Complete Secondary Education.
• Lyceum: Students receive a Junior Specialist Diploma or Diploma of Academic Lyceum equal to a Certificate of Complete Secondary Education.
• Preschool training (preprimary-from three to six years old)
• General secondary education (from 6 to 15 years old)
• Secondary vocational education (from 15 to 18 years old)
• Higher education (undergraduate and graduate-from 18 years old).

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Educational System—overview

According to official sources, about 60 percent of Uzbekistan's population is covered under the system of education. The earlier educational system required 11 years of compulsory schooling for both men and women. In 1992 the policy decision was made to change from 11 to 9 years of compulsory education. After nine years of compulsory schooling, students can prepare for higher education in tenth or eleventh grade or turn to vocational training. After graduating from any type of secondary education, an individual can enter a higher education institution to obtain a bachelor's degree and continue study toward a master's or doctoral degree.

Budget constraints and other transition problems following the collapse of the Soviet Union, have made it difficult to maintain and update educational buildings, equipment, texts, supplies, teaching methods, and curricula. Foreign aid for education is desperately needed, but has not been sufficient to compensate for the loss of central funding.

When viewed in general, the Uzbekistan educational system includes:

• Preschool training (preprimary-from three to six years old)
• General secondary education (from 6 to 15 years old)
• Secondary vocational education (from 15 to 18 years old)
• Higher education (undergraduate and graduate-from 18 years old).

Girls and boys are legally considered equal and study in the same classes and schools. Schools are open to all ethnic groups, and minorities in schools are rarely an issue.

The academic year begins on 2 September (the first of September is the Independence Day) or the first working day of September. The academic year ends in June for secondary schools and in July for higher education. Russian was a common language for over 100 nationalities living in the Soviet Union and played the same role as English for the United States. It was also the Lingua Franca of the socialist world that included Bulgaria, Poland, Mongolia, and other European and Asian countries. Without Russian as a common language, Uzbeks (and other ethnic groups) would have to learn Ukrainian, Belorussian, Moldovian, Armenian, and many other languages to communicate with the multinational population of the Soviet Union. Therefore, until 1991, Uzbeks preferred schools with instruction in Russian for their children. To not do so would have put them at a great disadvantage socially. After Uzbekistan gained its independence, Uzbek (not Russian) became the official language of instruction. In 1998-1999, some 76.8 percent of pupils at day schools were educated in Uzbek.

Examinations in the educational system of Uzbekistan are primarily oral. Universities, institutes, and some colleges still have entrance exams. Course exams occur only at the end of the course (semester). State exams are taken at higher education institutions at the completion of all coursework. The grading system of Uzbekistan is numerical. The highest grade is 5 (excellent = A), then follows 4 (good = B), 3 (satisfactory = C), and 2 (unsatisfactory = F). One is never used. Final grades are determined by test scores, papers, attendance, and class participation.

Because compulsory education is freely provided to all children of Uzbekistan, private schools have a difficult time justifying their existence. In fact, they were banned in 1993. Also, since Uzbekistan Law declares the separation of education from religion, there are no religious schools. However, in 1999, the establishment of the Tashkent Islamic University was allowed. Computer technology, thanks to international assistance, is being introduced to educational institutions and training centers. In 1994, the Central Asian Telecommunications Training Center (CATTC) was established in Uzbekistan under the Tacis Program of the European Commission. Training at the CATTC is provided using modern teaching aids, active methods, and individual and group methods by specialists and experts in different fields. The Computer Center at the University of Samarkand provides computer service to departments and research units and collaborates with other institutions and the private sector to run short training courses. At the secondary school level, computers are still rare.

As a result of decline in funding, the printing of books, textbooks, and other publications face numerous difficulties. This problem is common for all NIS countries. Nevertheless, despite obvious difficulties, according to UNESCO, Uzbekistan schools supplied about 60 percent of textbooks as a whole and for some selected subjects up to 100 percent. Publishing houses produced about 149 million copies of over 1700 various titles. From 1992 to 1997, some 174 textbooks with over 53,000 copies were published, including 138 original, 19 translated, 8 parallel in 2 languages, and 9 experimental textbooks. About 170 various tutorials and educational literature in 7 languages are published. Audiovisual materials are usually manually prepared by teachers. With the high price of copying and low salaries, teachers and professors must be creative.

In the Soviet-type higher education institution, most students studied for a full working week (five to six days a week, six to eight hours of classes a day). Evening and correspondence courses were also popular. The first and the second year of the curriculum usually included the study of social science with similar course requirements for all students. Specialization began in the third year and continued in the fourth year. Within this period a student had between 4,500 and 5,000 face-to-face hours of instruction in 20 to 30 subjects, depending on the field of concentration. Curriculum included general subjects like philosophy and economy, specialized subjects determined by the chosen profession, and very specific courses depending on the deeper specialization. Curriculum was very rigid and equal for all students. There were no choices. In the modern system higher education institutions, curriculum is certainly less rigid. However, the authorization of the curriculum is still the responsibility of a ministry, not a particular institution.

The expansion of curricula, including the addition of courses in French, Arabic, and English, has placed new stress on a limited supply of teachers and materials. In the mid-1990s, a major curriculum reform was begun. Western experts advised:

• a more commercial approach to the mathematics curriculum
• more emphasis in economics courses on the relationship of capital to labor
• more emphasis in social science courses on individual responsibility for the environment
• the addition of entirely new subjects, such as business management.

Because such changes involve new materials and a new pedagogical approach by staff, the reform period is estimated at 10 to 15 years. The current transformation of the educational system is performed along educational models in developed countries. According to Gulyamov, "During the process of developing the National Program the experience of reforming education in more than 30 leading countries in the world has been studied" (Gulyamov 1999).

In 1997, President Karimov founded "Umid," a program providing students with educational fellowships for obtaining education abroad. By the year 2000, over 700 students have been awarded the "Umid" Presidential Scholarship to pursue graduate and undergraduate degrees in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, and Japan. Certainly, returning graduates are expected to bring back "the influence," and those who have finished their studies are employed by the State. The Uzbekistan educators established contacts with the United Nations Organization and separate countries like France, Germany, the Republic of Korea, Turkey, and the United States. Many organizations like Peace Corp (USA), ACCELS (USA), British Council, Merci Project (Great Britain), Goethe Institute (Germany), NAFE (USA), and Save the Children Fund (Great Britain) participate in the educational efforts undertaken by Uzbekistan. For example, the Ministry of Education of Turkey assisted in forming 22 Lycea for over 4.8 thousand students. Another example is the American Council on Cooperation in Education (ANCALS) which within 4 years helped over 222 Uzbekistan students get education in the United States. Finally, within only 2 years, 25 Uzbekistan schools got the certificates of UNESCO Associated Schools Project (ASP).

An American Educational Advising Center (EAC) funded by the United States Information Agency (USIA) and administered by the American Council for Collaboration in Education and Language Study (ACCELS) was established in Tashkent to assist individuals interested in studying, training, and/or pursuing research in the United States. Tashkent EAC also monitors three similar regional educational advising centers located in the other cities. EAC provides ongoing training for the advisors.

Finally, the European Training Foundation (ETF) established an observatory to monitor the vocational education and training in Uzbekistan. It also disseminates the language training programs and helps the European Commission with the implementation of the Tempus program. Since 1994 the latter has financed over 12 projects, including the restructuring of the Geography Faculty at Samarkand State University and the development of a new history curriculum at Tashkent State University.

Education has and will continue to play a significant role in development. First, it increases an individual's internal potential, self-respect, and self-esteem. Second, it makes an individual a better prospect for employment. Third and most importantly, an educated individual gives more back to the society. Unfortunately, the results of education and training are less directly connected to revenue for immediate business growth, which is why the government tends to cut educational budgets.

Additional topics

• Uzbekistan - Preprimary Primary Education
• Uzbekistan - Constitutional Legal Foundations

Education - Free Encyclopedia Search Engine Global Education Reference Uzbekistan - History Background, Constitutional Legal Foundations, Educational System—overview, Preprimary Primary Education, Secondary Education

• News & Insights
• Education System
• Grading System
• Credentials
• Universities

Primary Education

In Uzbekistan 11 years of education are compulsory and free, beginning with 4 years at primary school, and followed by 2 phases of secondary education taking 5 and 2 years respectively. Primary school begins at age 6 and there is no specific leaving examination after the 4 years are complete.

Secondary Education

The next 5 years are spent at general secondary school from ages 10 to 15. Following that, there is a choice of between 2 to 3 years of upper education at either general or technical vocational schools. The former provides a certificate of completed secondary education and the opportunity to enter university, the latter a diploma of specialized secondary education, through a network of secondary vocational institutions.

Vocational Education

Unemployment remains relatively high, and there are many people desperately in need of new or more appropriate skills. There are a number of state and donor programs in place to address the structural training shortfall. Eventually, the goal is to meet European union standards.

Tertiary Education

• DOI: 10.21070/ICECRS.V4I0.134
• Corpus ID: 214161781

Education System of The Republic of Uzbekistan: Educational Program and Assigned Qualifications

• Berdiyeva Nafisa Abdumalik kizi
• Published 22 November 2019

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Soviet recognition of foreign higher educational credentials in the 1950-90s, related papers.

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Reforms in tertiary education have made university degrees more attainable in Uzbekistan, but less valued.

For decades, having a tertiary degree was a dream for millions of Uzbek citizens. Not everyone could pass entrance exams or afford study fees to become a university student. This has changed – higher education is now more affordable, but also, unfortunately, less valued.

When President Shavkat Mirziyoyev came to power in 2016, one of his promises was to improve the education system in Uzbekistan. Reforms over  the last few years in the higher education system in “New Uzbekistan” targeted three main aims: to revamp the university admission system; to increase the number of higher education institutions (HEIs); and to improve the quality of higher education. 

Legal Pay-offs at University Admissions

On June 9, 2023, Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Ibrahim Abdurahmanov, announced that 381,000 new students will be admitted to HEIs for the 2023-2024 academic year. Only 15.7 percent of them reportedly will be funded by the state, while other students have to pay study fees ( $550-$750 per year on average). Regardless, this is a big increase in admission quotas. To compare, in 2016, the admission quota for bachelor’s and master’s degree studies was 62,900 combined, with 32.8 percent of places funded by the state.

The trend is in line with the 2019 presidential degree “On the concept of development of the higher education system of the Republic of Uzbekistan until 2030.” Among others, the concept is envisioned to increase the share of the population with tertiary education to over 50 percent (the law does not specify, but most interpret it as meaning 50 percent of the youth). 

Not only has the admissions quota increased, allowing more young people to become students, but the admissions procedure has also been altered. It is now less competitive and presents more options for applicants. 

Admissions exams for entrance into state universities in Uzbekistan used to be highly competitive. Every summer, one applicant (locally known as an abiturient ) could apply to one state university, for one major, only. If they could not get a good enough score on the admissions exams, they had to wait for the next year’s round.  In 2015, for example, the admission rate was 9.5 percent – 57,800 out of 605,836 abiturients could secure a place at HEIs. From 2019 onward, however, abiturients were allowed to apply to multiple universities and choose based on their scores in the admissions exams and their preferences. 

A bigger change took place earlier. From 2017 onward, university applicants who can not get a high enough score in the admissions exams were allowed to pay an increased university fee and still become a student. Locally, the system is known as a “super-contract” and is divided into three categories. First are applicants who were close, earning up to 4 points less than the entry score; second are applicants who scored more than the 56.7 minimum passing score, but were more than 4 points short of the entry score; and finally, applicants who scored less than the minimum passing score – 56.7 points. 

Based on which category prospective students fall into, and just how many points away from entrance they were, they can pay from 1.5 to 25 times more than the base university fee for the first year of studies. For example, for the 2018-2019 academic year, university fees for students on super-contract ranged from 82 million Uzbek som ($7,100) up to 276 million Uzbek som ($24,000) for the first year of studies. 

This system in theory allows the government to cut corruption at universities at the admissions level. Earlier, wealthy families would pay up to $10,000 for their child to get into a university. Now, instead of bribing a third party (such as university rectors, deans, or other faculty members), they directly (and legally) pay in the form of university fees when their abiturient son or daughter does not have enough knowledge to pass the entrance exams. However, corruption and bribery at the admission level still takes place. Last year, for example, exam scores of 117 abiturients at 10 HEIs were found to be forged to reduce their super-contract fees. “Cases of corruption have been detected in the ‘super-contract’ system itself, which was introduced for the purpose of preventing corruption at admission to HEIs,” explained a local official. 

The super-contract system created a wave of criticism on the grounds that now anyone with enough money can get into a HEI and obtain a degree, an opportunity not afforded to those without funds. Studying at and graduating from Uzbek state universities is notoriously easy. Systemic bribery and corruption reportedly allow students to easily pass courses, to buy anything from exam answers to essays and more. 

The introduction of the super-contract system became especially worrisome in the fields of medicine and architecture. Addressing criticisms, last year Abduqadir Tashkulov, then the minister of higher and secondary special education, said that education at universities is now harder and corruption or bribery is not allowed. Students can get into university by paying a super-contract, but there is no guarantee that they will graduate if they do not study hard enough. “That’s why I appeal to parents today to pay a super-contract if you believe your child will be able to study tomorrow. In the credit module (system), you cannot ‘move’ your child from course to course by calling and through (your) networks as (it used to be) before,” reiterated the minister. 

New Uzbekistan – New Universities 

Currently, there are three forms of higher education institutions in Uzbekistan – universities, academies, and institutions. The number of HEIs, especially private ones and foreign universities and their branches, skyrocketed in just a couple of years. The above mentioned 2019 concept envisioned “development of public-private partnership in the field of higher education, organization of activities of state and non-state higher education institutions in the regions.” As a result, there are now 210 HEIs operating across the country – a 172 percent increase from only 77 in 2016.

Source: Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation of the Republic of Uzbekistan , n.d.

This number was achieved in three main ways: via the opening of new universities, the opening of new branches of existing universities, and the opening of non-state HEIs. Between 2016 and 2022, 122 new HEIs were launched. The number of non-state HEIs increased from four in 2016 to 65 as of 2023. 

For example, Sharda-Uzbekistan university was launched in 2021 as the first independent, private university in Uzbekistan. The same year, Profi University started operating as the first private pedagogical university in the country. 

Tashkent also allowed many more foreign universities and their branches to be opened in the country. In 2016, there were only seven of them. By now, 30 foreign HEI and their branches operate in Uzbekistan. Most foreign HEIs and their branches are Russian, but not all. In 2018, an agreement between the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education of Uzbekistan and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia was reached. This agreement provided Russian universities operating in Uzbekistan with advantages such as “tax benefits, simplified registration procedure, and more.” The number of Russian HEIs rose from four in 2018 to 14 in 2022 and nine more are reportedly underway.

Sources: Daryo.uz , 2023; Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation of the Republic of Uzbekistan , n.d.; Darakchi.uz , 2016.

Homeless Students

The increase in the number of universities exacerbated the problem of accommodation. As of 2022, there are 91,000  places at HEI student dormitories, but 120,000 more students need a roof over their heads. Last year, the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education said that only 47 percent of HEI students are provided with dormitory rooms. “When I studied the world’s higher education system, I witnessed one thing – there is not a single country that provides 100 percent of student accommodation,” said Minister Tashqulov, as he justified the lack of accommodations for students with the growing number of universities and students in the country.

The problem is especially prevalent in Tashkent as most universities (88 HEIs) are located there. Of 257 dormitories in the country, 95 (37 percent) are in Tashkent, but those cannot accommodate even half of the students who need a place. 

Sources: Number of university and university branches: Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation of the Republic of Uzbekistan , (n.d.).  Number of Student Dormitories: A’zam, Madina (2022), Gazeta.uz . 

Every September, thousands of students travel from Uzbekistan’s many regions to the capital and seek a place to rent. Unlike in many communities in the West, in Uzbekistan, children generally live under with their parents until they get married and buy a house in their late 20s. The youngest sons live with their parents even after marriage. Parents feel responsible to provide for their children, even when they legally become adults. Naturally, it is parents who are the most frustrated with the university housing issue – not only are rental apartments expensive, but many also feel unsafe to let their teenagers live in apartments without adult supervision.  

“Two years ago, my daughter also started studying under a contract. Because they did not give [her] a room at the student’s dormitory, I could not afford her to study, so we married her off,” said Alijon Ghofurov in an interview with local news outlet Gazeta.uz. His son was a first-year student at a university in Tashkent and was desperate to get a dormitory room at the time of the interview. “If they do not give a room for my son either, I will take him back (to our region) and marry him off as well.” 

According to Momin Ibodov, press secretary of the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education, priorities in allocating dormitory rooms are given to orphans, students with disabilities, and students from poor families. 

The government has taken certain measures to address the situation. In 2021, Tashkent announced that students residing in one region but studying in another region and renting an apartment would be provided with a small amount of financial support – in Tashkent, it is up to $30, while in regions no more than half of that sum. But this is a miserable aid given how expensive rental apartments are in Tashkent.

Soon after, in 2022, Tashkent adopted a decree to build 228 student dormitories by 2025, which would accommodate over 91,000 students. How effective these measures are is yet to be seen as September 2023 comes closer day by day. 

Increases in admissions quotas and the launch of new HEIs have created new opportunities for Uzbekistan’s youth. More and more young people now have access to tertiary education. Tashkent is also supporting girls, in particular, to obtain higher education both at home and abroad to curb the gender imbalance at HEIs by creating additional quotas and providing financial help. 

The efforts, however, have cheapened the value of a tertiary education among the public. University spots used to be difficult to obtain and abiturients used to study very hard to get a place at local HEIs. Having a degree is also used to essentially ensure that the  diploma holder would have access to a job, although not always a well-paying one. Now the labor market is becoming more and more competitive. Eventually this might result in a layer of educated, but unemployed, youth. 

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New Reforms of Improving Education System in Uzbekistan

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