Uzbekistan

Abstract

Uzbekistan is a lower middle-income
 country located in Central Asia with a population of 30
 million people and an economy that has been growing by over
 8 percent per annum since the mid-2000s. The composition of
 the workforce has also changed dramatically in recent years.
 The higher education system is characterized by low access
 and concerns about the quality and relevance of the skills
 of its graduates. A recent regional skills study concluded
 that Uzbekistan is experiencing a substantial shortage of
 university graduates. The internal management of the higher
 education system is fragmented, with different actors having
 overlapping responsibilities, thereby making it difficult to
 ensure system-wide accountability. In order to enable the
 Uzbek higher education system to serve the economy and
 student population well, the quality assurance system should
 be compliant with global best practices while remaining
 locally relevant. While reported overall state budget
 spending on education, at around 8 percent of GDP, is one of
 the highest in the world, the share of this spending on
 tertiary education, at around 0.4 percent of GDP, is one the
 lowest. In summary, Uzbekistan’s higher education system
 needs to modernize to better adapt to needs of the country’s
 economy. The report, having analyzed the sector in detail,
 proposes measures to modernize the higher education sector
 in Uzbekistan.