The World Bank has assigned Uzbekistan $42.2 million for the modernization of the higher education system.
The World Bank is one of the important sources of funding and technical assistance for developing countries. By 2030, the organization is willing to reach two global goals, namely, to cut poverty by reaching a 3% threshold in the number of people living for less than $1.90, and attain common prosperity by improving the living standards and growing incomes of the lower 40% of each country’s population.
Uzbekistan acceded to the World Bank in 1992. To date, the overall volume of commitments is worth around $2 billion.
Last week, the Board of Executive Directors approved the allocation of a loan amounting to $42.2 million for the International Association of Development to the implementation of a scheme “Modernization of the Higher Education System in Uzbekistan”. The project is intended for the achievement of an ambitious goal, that is, to join the ranks of industrialized nationswith incomes higher than the average. This kind of transformation will require the development of workforce that wields advanced skills and which can make a good use of its entrepreneurship qualities to boost the competitiveness of the economy and serve as catalyze of the processes of its modernization.
The head of World Bank Office in Uzbekistan, Junghun Cho explained: “Higher education is critically important in particular from the viewpoint of the conception of innovation ideas, development and introduction of new technologies as well as nurturing quality good graduates who meet the goals of economic development of the country. But this project is designed to bolster the managerial potential in Uzbekistan’s higher education system and to uplift the urgency from the perspective of labor market demands, as well as to perfect the learning environment in a range of higher education institutions. This will bring good not only to the students and faculty of technical universities, government education agencies, but also to employers and Uzbekistan’s manufacturing industries. The scheme is made up of four components: cementing management of higher education, improving the learning environment, elevating the need in higher education, monitoring. To raise the popularity of higher education, a competition-based Fund to Support Academic Innovation is going to be established under the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education to grant financial assistance for innovation projects.
The Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education under technical assistance of World Bank is tasked with the materialization of the project in 2016-2023.
