Uzbekistan Quality Job Creation as a Cornerstone for Sustainable Economic Growth

Uzbekistan Quality Job Creation as a Cornerstone for Sustainable Economic Growth
of graduates’ labor-market entry. At the same time, although the progress of 
developing the vocational and technical education system in Uzbekistan has 
been impressive, specifically in infrastructure development and coverage, 
its quality and governance need improving. An in-depth survey of over 200 
enterprises in Uzbekistan indicates that while 80% of firms are satisfied with 
the skills of university graduates, less than 60% of firms express satisfaction 
with the skills of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) 
graduates (World Bank 2014).
With the TVET system moving away from focusing on infrastructure 
development and increasing the number of students toward improving the 
content and quality of the curricula it is now important to take advantage of 
the moment and build on the system’s achievements, to ensure that the new 
programs offered by the TVET system are relevant to the labor market’s needs.
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Reports by the World Bank (2014) and OECD (2011) highlight the need to 
modernize the education system and/or upgrade skills to be competitive in 
the labor market. To monitor and update TVET policies, more data, acquired 
through tracer studies with graduates, and employer surveys, are needed. 
Lessons are available from the successful example of rapid TVET expansion in 
the Republic of Korea (Box 3.1). 
3.3.4. Skills development and continued learning and training
Continued vocational education and training (CVET) opportunities are 
limited in Uzbekistan. Provision of CVET decreased significantly after the 
dissolution of the Soviet Union when many training centers serving state-
owned enterprises closed. With higher demand for skilled workers from the 
private sector, CVET provision is now predominantly company-based. The 
public education and training system does not recognize the training delivered 
by enterprises as it cannot assess the quality of training that does not comply 
with formal curricula (ETF 2015). The notion of continuing education is largely 
applied as formal education, mainly for people to upgrade their qualifications 
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The vocational education system is covered by the government’s education reforms initiated in 2017. Starting 
from 2018, professional colleges only accept students who have completed 11 years of secondary education. 
At the same time, the new initiative was introduced in the compulsory education system: educational and 
industrial complexes at schools and colleges will provide students in years 10 and 11 with professional training 
courses in one of 50 specialties. The professional courses will be offered as part of the secondary education 
curricula with students taking full-day training once a week. 

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