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Uzbekistan Quality Job Creation as a Cornerstone for Sustainable Economic Growth
Low enrollment and little association between private sector employers and
universities also negatively impact the economy’s capacity for innovation,
technology adoption, and value creation. Universities need to be adequately
equipped to better address the requirements
of a developing economy
and reduce the skills and supply–demand mismatch of graduates. The
employability of graduates remains a priority of higher education policymakers.
While data on employability of graduates are not available on the websites of
universities operating in Uzbekistan, findings of the World Bank (2014) show
that graduates often do not enter employment related to their area of study.
For example, only 57% of graduates working in education pursued this field in
university, and graduates of various disciplines fill over 75% of all graduate-
level jobs in the construction industry.
While
broadening access to education, Uzbekistan should also improve the
matching of skills and jobs, a challenge that is common to most developing
countries and that requires a responsive approach to education and skills
development, involving collaboration between education
institutions and the
private sector. To meet the challenge requires developing a stronger knowledge
base on jobs and skills, and greater adaptability among both entrepreneurs and
the youth (Jagannathan 2012).
As Uzbekistan develops, the need for workers with specialized skill sets
and training, and
with higher education degrees, will be more pronounced.
Tertiary education should pay attention to the quality of education and
have the right tool set to monitor labor markets and outcomes of higher
education programs. Box 3.3 provides some examples of recent initiatives that
focus on the interactions between higher education and the labor market in
several countries.
3.3.7. Governance
of the education sector
No single actor can ensure proper governance of the education sector,
because many actors have overlapping responsibilities. Under the current
education sector reforms initiated by the government, several significant
changes concern the sector’s management.
Education is now managed by
three ministries: the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education
(formerly the Center for Secondary Special and Vocational Education), the
Ministry of Public Education, and the Ministry of Preschool Education.
Currently no single national qualification framework in Uzbekistan is analogous
to the European understanding of the notion. Various systems potentially