Education
Brief sector overview. Uzbekistan has highest literacy rate in the CIS countries and maintained Soviet era educational infrastructures without dismantling. In Uzbekistan primary and secondary education are compulsory and free. There are 1800 public schools though-out 12 regions and 63 universities and institutes. Over 1 million high school graduates and 500 thousand college graduates annually. 160 thousand full-time students in average in the colleges.
We estimated that $565 million worth of technical assistance projects are being implemented in the education sector. South Korea plays a significant role for IT education through its Inha university branch and both governments agreed for long term strategic partnership.
Strategy. Country spends roughly 38% its budget expenditures to its education system. One of the reasons is Uzbekistan has young population. In Uzbekistan, the working-age group (15 - 64 years old) takes up 70.3% of the total population with the average age of 27.1. The working-age population of Uzbekistan attains a relatively high level of education and is regarded as a growth engine for Uzbekistan’s future. Recognizing its high potential, the Uzbekistan government is investing in the education sector with a goal to strengthen its strategic status in Central Asia. We consider that Uzbekistan government is planning to leverage its Demographic Window between 2012-2047, where the peak working age population would reach 68.5% by 2036.
International Universities in Tashkent. Comparing to other CIS countries, Uzbekistan is far ahead with foreign educational institutes within the country. One of the main reason is Uzbekistan was the largest economy in the CIS and Tashkent is multicultural city, which is has high demand for international standard higher education. Following are the existing international university branches in Tashkent:
- Westminster International University Tashkent;
- Turin Polytechnic University in Tashkent;
- Management Development Institute of Singapore in Tashkent;
- Branch of Moscow State University in Tashkent;
- Branch of Russian Economic University in Tashkent;
- Branch of Russian University of Oil and Gas in Tashkent;
- University of Inha in Tashkent
On 20 September 2017, an agreement on opening of the branch of Webster University in Tashkent city was signed. The document was signed during the Uzbek-American business forum in New York (USA).
The Webster University branch will be the first full-fledged branch of the American higher education institution in the CIS countries.
Opportunities: Country is aiming to modernize its education sector through improving standards, introducing IT systems and lifelong learning solutions based on modern technologies. We expect market growth in certain areas:
- Private pre-school entities, schools and colleges
- Professional skills services and certification services
- Educational systems, hardware and school & campus management systems along with data warehouse and big data analytics