Higher education in uzbekistan the National Programme for Personnel Training

HIGHER EDUCATION IN UZBEKISTAN

1. The National Programme for Personnel Training

After independence in 1991, Uzbekistan became the master of its own way of economic and social development and had the task to construct a democratic state and open civil society, a socially-oriented market economy. All this entailed a radical reform of the education system in Uzbekistan. Education had to be reoriented towards meeting the common national interest and ensuring competitiveness in the world market. Uzbekistan became a member of the international community and was keen to develop a modern system of education.
The importance of the reform of the education system should be considered in the context of the demography of Uzbekistan : according to a UNICEF Monitoring Report for 2003 out of a total population of 26 million people, 11 million are less than 17 years of age. This is 42% of the population.

On 29 August 1997 President Islam Karimov signed a Law on the establishment of a “National Programme for Personnel Training”, which provides a long-term strategy for strengthening education, the development of a continuing education system and reinforcing the multi-level higher education system. The programme is a unique one, which sets out the fundamental principles of the reform strategy, outlines the problems and sets their priorities.

The aim of the programme is the fundamental reform of education system, the complete reversal of its ideological routine, elaboration of the national educational system for the training of highly qualified specialists up to the level of advanced democratic states. It is stated in the programme that one of the tasks to achieve the above aim is the development of a mutually beneficial international co-operation.

2. Structure of educational system of Uzbekistan

The educational system is composed of the following levels and types of education (see Annex 1). A general secondary education over a 9 year period of studies is compulsory. Children start their education at the age of 6 or 7, depending on their psychological and physical condition. The last three years of secondary education can be obtained in two types of secondary educational establishments - professional colleges and academic lyceums. Both types of schools provide the general secondary education required for further education in the universities. One more important principle, introduced into the National Programme of Personnel Training, is continuity of education. Education starts from pre-school age, continues for nine years of obligatory schooling, and then for an additional three years. The new concept is aimed at raising the profile of vocational education in the republic. It is foreseen, that approximately 80% of all pupils will go to Professional Colleges upon completion of the mandatory 9 years’ studies in general secondary education. These offer a three year secondary specialised syllabus leading to a range of specialised skills in a selected trade. Those pupils, who go to Academic lyceums are given the opportunity to raise their level of knowledge in selected humanitarian, technical or agrarian subjects. Upon graduation from the Lyceum the student can either opt to pursue higher education or go directly into industry. Thus, students have a total of 12 years of compulsory schooling under the new programme. (It is planned that the system of secondary specialised and vocational education will consist of a total number of 1689 colleges and 181 lyceums, where 1,5 million students will study. Every year 500,000 students will graduate.)

After that, there is a possibility of the two-level higher education. Postgraduate education also includes two stages: postgraduate studies to obtain a degree of candidate of science and a doctorate. The Ministry of Public Education and the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education share responsibility in the field of education.

3. The System of Higher Education in the Republic of Uzbekistan

3.1. Introduction

Higher education in the Republic of Uzbekistan has an almost century-old history. The first real university -Turkestan State University- was opened in 1920. It was later renamed the Tashkent State University and again in 1999 when it became the National University of Uzbekistan (9359 students were registered in 2002/2003 academic year).
There are 63 higher educational institutions in Uzbekistan, including State Universities in each of  the regional centres.
As yet there are no non-state universities in Uzbekistan, although the Law “On Education” adopted in 1997 provided  a legal basis for such institutions.
January 17, 2002 the establishment of the International University of Westminster in Tashkent   was adopted by Regulation of the Cabinet of Ministers. The university will offer Bachelor‘s and Master‘s degree in Economics, Management, Information and Technology and Law. Admission to the university will require a grant from the UMID foundation (information about this organisation is given below in 3.9) and will be on a contractual basis.

3.2. Structure of higher education in Uzbekistan

Higher education is mainly co-ordinated and funded by the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialised Education (MHSSE). There are 34 Higher Educational Institutions (14 of them Universities, 20 – Institutes) under MHSSE control. There are still some highly specialised institutions, however, which come under other horizontal ministries. For example, the Ministry of Public Education has 5 pedagogical institutes, the Ministry of Health – 7, the Ministry of Culture – 5, the Ministry of Agriculture – 4 and so on. Several ministries have one educational institution each. The Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialised Education is the main methodological and coordinating body in higher education, which sets strict rules for the recognition of new developed curricula according to the state educational standards. According to information from the MHSSE the current total number of professors-teachers in 63 HEIs in Uzbekistan is 21,000.

The total number of students is 258,000.

According to the National Programme for Personnel Training higher education is based on the secondary specialised education (academic lyceum), vocational specialised education (professional college) and includes 2 levels: a Bachelor degree level and Master’s degree level.

The Bachelor‘s degree level is a basic higher education providing fundamental and applied knowledge according to speciality, with a period of study not less than 4 years. Upon the completion of the bachelor programme the graduate is conferred with the degree of bachelor and granted a diploma of state standard, which provides the right to begin his professional activity.

The Master‘s degree level is higher education with fundamental and applied knowledge in a concrete field and lasts not less than 2 years on the basis of the Bachelor‘s degree. Master’s degree holders are given a diploma of a state model, which provides the right to be engaged in professional activity. It should be stressed that only students who have studied for a bachelor degree in the same field may apply for the corresponding Master’s course. 1999/2000 academic year - was the first time that 24,000 young people with Bachelors Degree graduated from Universities and 3,000 students entered 26 HEIs, which will provide Master’s course.

3.3. Funding of Higher education

In Uzbekistan, individual institutions prepare budget bids which are submitted to and thereafter examined by the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialised Education. The total budget is aggregated and submitted to the Ministry of Finance, where a judgement is made about the total and sent back to the MHSSE, which then reallocates the final figures between its institutions. In 1995 expenditure share for the education made up 24,4 % from state budget, whereas in average in the countries with high rate of human dimension development (according to UNDP classification) it was at 12,3 %. In 2003 this index for Uzbekistan was equal to 19,7 %, that considerably exceeded world average figures. According to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan finances derived from students‘ paid contracts do not decrease the amount of financing from the budget and can be used entirely for the needs of the educational institution. According to the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan on regulation and payment of students’ scholarships (Tashkent, 17.10.2001) a new procedure was introduced on provision with scholarships of all students (except for foreign students) studying on budget or contractual basis. The amount of monthly paid scholarship is included in the cost of the contract. The procedure is related also to Governmental Scholarships of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Government Scholarships named after Beruny, Ibn Sino, Navoi and Ulugbek.

3.4. Accreditation procedure

The following procedure should be undertaken for the accreditation of newly developed training courses or curricula:

- discussion and approval during the meeting of relevant Department (coherence with public educational standards);

- submission for the approval to Methodological Council (if it exists) or Scientific Council of the University or Institute;

- submission to the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialised Education.

If the existing courses have been improved or modernised there is no need to apply to the Ministry, they could be approved at the level of the Scientific Council of the University.

Usually the new curriculum is developed by special groups of experts consisting of leading specialists of HEIs, Academy of Sciences and representatives of relevant branches of economy.

3.5. Admission to HEIs

The admission of the students to Higher Education Institutions in Uzbekistan is carried out on the basis of state grants and contracts.

Annually the Cabinet of Ministers issues a Resolution providing detailed information and requirements on enrollment to Higher Education Institutions. There is a Republican Testing Centre under the Cabinet of Ministers, which is responsible for the organisation of testing and development of testing materials. Uzbekistanis in the group of 10 countries using a modern testing system based on multiple choice. The testing is held on the 1st of August throughout the country for all types of HEIs.

The system of testing has been improved during the last eight years: at the moment there is a database of qualified tests, which require from the applicants a deep knowledge and understanding of subjects, clear logic of thinking and other relevant skills. With the aim of improving the quality of testing materials and their broad approbation by pupils and teachers a special issue of “Ahborotnoma”- “Vestnik” is published every year by the Republican Testing Center. Only those who have actually passed the testing at an adequate level are admitted and not everybody who is ready to pay.

There is no procedure for someone who passed the testing with top marks to choose a university or institute: s/he will be admitted to the HEI, where his/her application was submitted. The Universities decide whom they want to admit through the definition of minimum and maximum of total score of testing. (For example, the ranking list of 200 applicants includes the results in the range of 230-160. Only 50 people with total score from 230-195 are admitted on budget basis, other 50 people with results from 195-160 – on a contractual basis.)

If a student does not get a state grant, in most cases the fees are paid by parents, by companies or organisations.

In July 2001 according to the Regulation of the Cabinet of Minister of Uzbekistan a new system on provision of educational credits and loans was introduced, which gave the opportunity for a number of students to be enrolled in HEIs throughout the republic. The Regulation states that educational credits are allocated to citizens of Uzbekistan, who have successfully passed the enrollment test and have been admitted to HEIs on a contractual basis. For ophans and handicapped persons the credits will be given without interest charges.

The prestige of higher education constantly increases. The average competition for 100 vacant places was:

Bachelor’s: in 1999- 324 people, in 2000 – 411 people, in 2001 – 533, in 2002 – 423 people. Master’s: in 1999—130 people, in 2000—140 people, in 2001- 170, in 2002-180 people.

The following priority areas of the Uzbek economy are taken into consideration when defining the quotas of public order on future specialists:

- Agro-industrial complex

- Energy sector - Telecommunications

- Chemical industry

- Food industry

In 2002 the total admission of students to the Bachelor` study programme is characterized according to the marketing researches:

Education – 30%

Humanities and Arts – 13%

Social Sciences, Business and Law – 18%

Science – 7%

Engineering – 19%

Agriculture – 5%

Public health- 5%

Services – 3%

In 2002/2003 academic year 51400 students entered higher educational institutions to Bachelor degree course, and 4.586 to Master‘s course.

According to the data of the Main Department of the State Budget of the Ministry of Finance, in 2003 general quotes for admission to the Bachelors preparation courses made up 51,100 people (including on state grants 19,900 and on paid contractual basis – 31,200) and to the Masters' programs – 5,400 (accordingly 1,400 and 4,000). The average tuition fee is 435 000 sum per year, including a monthly scholarship (USD 435 at official rate of 1USD=1000 in April 2004), but it could vary depending on specialisation and type of HEIs.

3.6. Higher education reform

As it was already mentioned the unified policy for education is detailed in the National Programme for Personnel Training, which reinforces the multi-level higher education system and identifies the following areas as critical for the new system to become fully operational:

- to elaborate and introduce public educational standards for the Bachelor and Master degree levels, - to train higher education teaching staff (including training abroad in the best universities),

- to conduct structural reform in higher education establishments,

- to improve the management, increase the independence of higher education establishments,

- to introduce the concept of public management through the creation of Boards of Founders,

- to elaborate and implement mechanisms of interaction between education, science and industry,

- to elaborate technologies for personalising education, means of open and distance education,

- to intensify the educational process by introducing the use of new pedagogical methodologies, information technologies and modular systems,

- to broaden the humanitarian base of education.

In order to maintain the academic level of the 63 HEIs each institution has to undergo a regular assessment in order to be accredited by the MHSSE. For the reforming period since 1997 the following target programmes were developed and at the moment are being implemented:

- Training, retraining and upgrading of pedagogical staff;

- Support of talented youth;

- Management of education system;

- Intellectual and moral development, enlightenment;

- Quality control and personnel competitiveness;

- Interaction between education, science and industry;

- Informational maintenance of educational process and scientific research. During last two years the regulatory-methodological basis of a two-level higher education system have gone through an experimental approbation, including educational standards, curricula and syllabuses in all of areas of the Bachelor‘s and Master’s programmes. At present, the results of approbation are being analysed, the regulations are being improved and corrected.

Every 5 years the teaching staff of all types of HEIs should have a short-term retraining or upgrading courses. On 23 May, 2002 , a Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers was adopted on elaboration of the Programme of development of information and computer technologies for the period of 2001-2005 years and provision of wide access to Internet. One of the main objectives of the programme will be to improve training specialists in the field of information and computer technologies in the republic, as well as upgrade necessary computer skills of future specialists in all HEIs through ensuring facilities and access to Internet.

Considering the accumulated experience of the first stage implementation of NPPT, development of the labour market and real social-economic conditions the following priority areas have been defined for further development of education system:

• wide introduction of new information technologies and modern pedagogical methodologies

• creation of republican information-educational network, which covers higher education institutions connected to Internet

• development and provision the academic lyceums, professional colleges and higher education establishments with updated teaching materials

• improvement of quality training and retraining system of pedagogical staff for SSE (about 160 000 teachers should be trained and retrained by 2010)

• upgrading of skills of university teaching staff, especially in the field of Engineering (oil, gas, textile, agriculture, civil engineering, automobile industry etc)

• improvement of forms and methods of labour marketing, analysis of demand for specific specialties of higher education

• introduction of quality assurance system

• creation basis towards the Bologna process (ECTS).

According to the information of the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education:

In 2003 the pilot approbation of the credit system has started in Uzbek HEIs based on the principles of Bologna Declaration, which are close to the Uzbek higher education system both in structure and content.

The Institute of the Problems of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education is responsible for the development of strategy towards Bologna process and introduction of the credit system (ECTS).

“Strategic and main directions of information-communication technologies introduction in education” have been developed.

Nowadays 13,852 computers are available in HEIs and there is constant supply of modern computers. In 2003 every 100 student were equipped with 6,21 computers. 48 HEIs have their own local network. Presently all of 63 HEIs have access to Internet.

MHSSE developed its own portal on education www.bilim.uz and web-sites www.edu.uz/high, www.edu.uz/konkurs. In 2003 43 HEIs have created their web-sites.

Use of international education and information resources were increased. The number of EBSCO scientific and training resources comprised 34 (53%).

3.7. Academic year in Uzbekistan

The academic year starts on 2 of September and lasts until the end of June. The academic year is divided into two semesters:

1st - from the beginning of September to the end of December

2nd - from the beginning of February to the end of June. Although the duration of the semester can be varied on the status of HEIs or year of the study programme. For example, the 4th year students of the Bachelor programme finish their study in April.

3.8. Internationalization

Internationalization of higher education is given a high priority by the national authorities in Uzbekistan. A growing number of Uzbek students take part or all of their education abroad. As a result of inter-governmental agreements, students have an opportunity to study at foreign universities. In addition, leading higher education institutions support close working relationships with universities in Germany, UK, the US and other countries. In the meantime 180 foreign students are studying in Uzbekistan.

One of the top priorities in the development of training is to create conditions for the education of talented children and youth. The best teachers and scientists are proactive in the development of special curricula and advanced teaching technologies for such students who take active part in the educational and training process.

International cooperation is one of the fastest and dynamic developing sphere of higher education in Uzbekistan.

The international cooperation is being realized on the following directions(based on information recevied from MHSSE):

- establishment of joint higher education establishments

- involvement of foreign teachers, scientists in teaching process of Uzbek HEIs

- support for incoming and out-going student mobility

- support on organization of joint research work

- organization of international conferences on actual problems of higher education, innovative technologies, resources and energy saving

- attracting of foreign investments

The cooperation in higher education with Uzbek universities involved universities from 45 countries throughout the world.

There are a number of international organisations, which are operating in the field of education in the Republic of Uzbekistan:

- Asian Development Bank (ADB)
- Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
- American Councils for International Education (ACCELS)
- German Academic Exchange Programme (DAAD)
- International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX)
- British Council
- Peace Corpus
- Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA)
- Goethe Institute
- The Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation–Uzbekistan (OSIAF–Uzbekistan)
- Central Asian Free Exchange (CAFE)
- Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ)


Istedod presidential foundation on improvement of professional skills of young teachers and scientific specialists has been created on the basis of Umid presidential foundation (for supporting talented youth) and Ustoz foundation (for supporting teachers).The unification of two foundations is stipulated by the presidential decree signed on 1 July 2003. The main directions of activity of the foundation will be to increase intellectual potential of the country, develop science, pedagogy and economy and scientific directions important for steady progress of the republic.The foundation will help young pedagogical and scientific specialists through grants and other forms of support.