Demand for public tertiary schooling in Uzbekistan is slowly declining. This pattern is partly because of the growing variety of native and worldwide personal universities together with alternatives to review overseas, and partly because of the diminishing status of a college diploma among the many youth.
“Greater schooling in Uzbekistan was higher ten years in the past,” stated 26-year-old Eldor from Samarkand, who determined to drop out of his grasp’s program at a public college regardless of the total scholarship he had been awarded. He defined his resolution by citing the low high quality of schooling and a scarcity of job prospects for graduates.
“Demand for college graduates was once excessive so 90-95 p.c of scholars knew what to do after commencement. Now, many don’t perceive what they need from their diploma or what to do after college,” Eldor stated. “For them, greater schooling establishments have develop into a retailer that points diplomas. The standard of schooling has decreased and curiosity in greater schooling amongst younger folks can be lowering.”
The time period abiturient refers to people who’ve utilized or are about to use for college admission however haven’t but develop into a scholar. Entrance exams are organized as soon as in a yr solely and college students are chosen primarily based on the very best scores earned by abiturients.
On July 14, entrance exams for state universities started. This yr, there was a document low variety of candidates – 894,279 and 10 p.c of them have been denied seats within the examination for varied causes. To match, in 2020, over 1.4 million candidates have been registered. Over the previous decade, the admission charge has elevated from 9.6 p.c in 2015 to 18.7 p.c final yr.
Reducing curiosity in conventional public tertiary schooling could be defined by a few elements.
After the federal government change in 2016, the brand new administration’s reforms considerably impacted the schooling system. The variety of greater schooling establishments in Uzbekistan surged dramatically inside just a few years. In 2016, there have been solely 77 greater schooling establishments. Over the subsequent seven years, this quantity soared to 213 – a whopping 176.6 p.c improve. This progress was achieved by establishing new public universities and branches of current universities in new cities. Moreover, personal universities have been permitted, and lots of worldwide universities opened campuses in Uzbekistan. Presently, there are 116 public universities, 67 personal establishments, and 30 campuses of international universities.
“Curiosity in greater schooling has decreased as a result of it’s simple to enroll. The big variety of personal universities results in the concept that a college diploma is well attainable,” stated Oybek Omonov, a 20-year-old graphic designer from Tashkent.
Not solely has the variety of universities elevated, however in 2017 correspondence research and night courses have been additionally launched. In correspondence research (sirtqi ta’lim), college students attend courses for a few weeks per semester solely and are anticipated to self-study for the remainder of the time. The reputations of each, in addition to demand for his or her graduates, are low.
“I didn’t get what I needed from college research,” continued Oybek, explaining why he dropped out of his correspondence research at Tashkent State College of Economics, which was as soon as acknowledged as one of many high regional universities in Central Asia. “I feel it’s higher to work on myself now and develop into a high specialist in my discipline in 4 years than to battle discovering a job after college.”
“I bought into Signal Language’s Pedagogy program at Tashkent State Pedagogical College for night research,” recounted Shahzoda Azizova from Kashkadarya, who additionally determined in opposition to ending her research. “The research price was unjustifiably excessive and the prospect of discovering a well-paying job after commencement was low. Within the areas, deaf colleges function solely within the facilities, and even there it is rather tough to get a job.”
She additionally famous issues along with her program. “As a result of it was night research, courses have been generally not held,” Azizova stated. “Furthermore, they have been extra involved about college students’ uniforms and notes taken in lectures slightly than their information.”
Corruption within the greater schooling system causes widespread frustration, too. Dr. Azamat Akbarov, CEO of the Silk Highway Analysis Academy, categorized this corruption into two ranges. On the decrease stage, corruption permeates the tutorial course of, together with admissions, entrance exams, and research exams. For example, native information shops incessantly report on folks being arrested for accepting bribes to confess candidates into state universities. On the greater stage, corruption entails inspections, accreditation, allocation of quotas for universities, and funding of academic establishments.
Witnessing injustice on many ranges cheapens the worth of schooling within the eyes of atypical college students.
“After faculty, I used to be admitted to essentially the most prestigious faculty (a pre-university schooling establishment) in my discipline of curiosity,” stated Sardor Soib, 24, who at present works within the IT division of an area cell operator firm in Tashkent. The faculty’s principal, he famous to display the obvious status of the college, was additionally a senator within the Oliy Majlis, Uzbekistan’s parliament.
“However in follow all this meant nothing. We witnessed corruption, paper pushing, and completely different therapy for the wealthy and for atypical college students at an ‘elite’ establishment. After that, I made a decision to not proceed with conventional schooling and didn’t even apply to a college.”
Examine and dwelling bills current one other impediment for a lot of who need a faculty diploma. From 2019, college students pay both a research price solely, or pay the next price however obtain a month-to-month allowance. The bottom tuition price nationwide is about at public universities for pedagogy, arithmetic, and science majors – at 6.3 million Uzbek soms ($500) a yr.
Personal universities, nonetheless, are accessible solely to these from households with substantial incomes. Whereas the common annual tuition ranges from $3,000 to $5,000, finding out drugs at Central Asian College, for instance, prices $8,000 per yr.
“The research price at public universities is cheap, particularly given it isn’t flat for all majors,” stated Eldor. “Nonetheless, the charges at campuses of worldwide universities, the place college students should pay $3,000-$4,000 per yr, isn’t justified. For Uzbekistan, given how a lot common households earn, there must be a $1,500 cap.” Something greater than that, he stated, was profiteering.
On the identical time, authorities scholarships have considerably decreased. A decade in the past, in 2015, the federal government supported 33 p.c of latest college students with scholarships. College students didn’t pay a tuition price and got a month-to-month allowance. Final yr, solely 18.4 p.c of freshmen began their research and not using a fear of paying the payments.
Correspondence and night research college students don’t obtain any scholarships. They aren’t supplied a spot at scholar dormitories nor can they get a research mortgage from the 2024-2025 tutorial yr onwards. Tashkent is more and more full of college students as nearly all of universities (no less than 40 p.c) are positioned within the capital metropolis. When newcomers can not discover an reasonably priced place to remain, many drop their research and return to their house areas.
One other wave of diversion from public universities is because of research overseas alternatives. The variety of youth who select this path has drastically elevated – from 28,100 in 2015 to 109,945 in 2021. Most of them research in neighboring Kyrgyzstan (38,857 in 2022), Kazakhstan (9,571 in 2022), Tajikistan (over 5,000 in 2023) and in Russia (48,700 in 2023) or South Korea (12,000 in 2023).
The sudden improve within the variety of college graduates has decreased demand for them within the job market. Simply three years in the past, in 2021, there have been barely over half one million college students countrywide. As of 2024, their quantity has reached to over 1.3 million. That is the results of fast adjustments with a give attention to amount slightly than high quality of schooling.
“Greater schooling is already devalued amongst younger folks,” concludes Eldor. “Within the discipline of economics, accounting, [and] data communication applied sciences, for instance, a school diploma isn’t required. An individual with 2-6 months in fact research and work expertise is extra valued within the labor market than a college graduate with no expertise and no strong information.”
Tashkent stopped issuing licenses to personal universities from 2023. Minister of Greater Training, Science, and Innovation Kungirotboy Sharipov defined that this measure was taken to stop the proliferation of low-quality graduates and scale back the variety of unemployed faculty alumni. 5 personal universities have already had their licenses taken away. Sharipov additionally talked about that 20 public universities are set to be closed as a result of solely 5-10 p.c of their graduates have been capable of finding employment.
College levels haven’t misplaced all their worth but. For a lot of, significantly these from rural areas, a school diploma remains to be one of many few avenues to enhance their lives. Nonetheless, in contrast to a decade in the past when demand was excessive and provide restricted, a school diploma now not ensures employment and the youth are skeptical of its necessity.
The creator thanks the TalTech Legislation Faculty at Tallinn College of Expertise for offering the chance to take part as a fellow in Caucasus and Central Asia Analysis Social Innovation: Improvement Help, Innovation and Societal Transformation undertaking that allowed her to work on this piece.