Uzbekistan: Higher education reforms and the changing landscape since independence

Ruziev, Kobil; Burkhanov, Umar

Abstract

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.

• Publication Date: Apr 25, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 1, 2020
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 435-459
• Series Title: Palgrave Studies in Global Higher Education
• Book Title: 25 Years of Transformations of Higher Education Systems in Post-Soviet Countries: Reform and Continuity
• Chapter Number: 17
• ISBN: 9783319529790
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52980-6_17
• Keywords: higher education, reform, Uzbekistan, former Soviet Union, transition
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/870542
• Publisher URL: https://www.palgrave.com/de/book/9783319529790