Elaboration of a special government program for radical improvement of the higher education system has been underway. The scheme provides for bringing the educational standards in line with international ones, improvement of curricula and training syllabi, creation of a new generation of textbooks, including translations of foreign texts, as well as retraining of the faculty and teachers. 400 billion soums is going to be allocated from the state budget annually for reconstruction and outfitting of higher educational institutions with modern equipment.
There is still some time left, however, prior to completion of realization of the Program of modernization of the material and technical base of the higher educational institutions and radical improvement of the personnel training quality designed for the period 2011-2016. At the same time there is every reason to suggest that the first national program aimed at the development of higher education enabled to set up the basis, which will serve as a starting point for its further advancement.
One of the most important results of the development of the higher educational system over the past five years has been the creation of mechanisms and tools, which had put consolidation of the higher educational institutions’ material-technical base on a solid regular foundation. The fund for development of the higher educational institutions’ material-technical base makes up the heart of this mechanism. It’s worthwhile noting that in general the scope of work carried out during this period is much higher than was expected at the start of the program. In particular, the Fund has taken an active part in the reconstruction of the Uzbek State University of World Languages, the Tashkent State University of Law, and currently it finances the construction of facilities for the newly set up Tashkent State Institute of Dentistry.
Drastic changes have begun to be accomplished in the content of higher education. In the first place, the ministries and departments, the real sector of economy had informed the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education about the most needed specialists in the country. The higher educational institutions revised directions of education and professions, which they trained specialists in, with consideration of a five-year perspective. The results of this work proved to be quite tangible. Three universities, focused on the needs of the real sector of economy, had changed their profile, as a result of which emerged such educational institutions as the Andijon Machine Building Institute, Namangan and Bukhara Engineering and Technology Institutes.
Fitting out higher educational institutions has spiraled up into a qualitatively new level. Today all institutions of higher learning are linked up by a high-speed fiber-optic communication network, which allows carrying out events in the video conference format. Educational laboratories and such other sub-divisions are being re-equipped on a stage by stage basis.
With the unchanged total quota for applicants seeking the bachelor’s degree – about 57 thousand people, the higher educational institutions have commenced to train specialists in the fields of “Engineering, manufacturing and construction industry.” They made up 23% in total enrollment quota in the 2010/2011 academic year, while today they account for 36%. The enrollment indicators in “Education”, however, shrank from 31.1% down to 24.6%. It was a period of the second wave of cuts in the volume of training economists: the contingent of students trained in “Economics and business” departments decreased from 8.7% to 5.7%. The scope of training specialists in “Law” went down from 1.3% to 0.9% due to concentration of their training at the Tashkent State University of Law and the Karakalpak State University. Other areas of higher education also reduced their enrollment quotas from 35.5% to 32.7% in favor of technical education.
All this time the key question was: who train the students? Great attention has been paid to training personnel for higher educational institutions themselves. Updates happen with the arrival of young teachers to the classrooms; at the same time they too will have to be trained in accordance with the demands of the times. Therefore, a large scale reform of the system of retraining and qualification improvement of the faculty has been carried out in the Republic.
Courses aimed at raising the level of knowledge of foreign languages and information-communication technologies were organized for the purpose of prompt solution of the problem. The system of qualification improvement had also been reformed. Today attendance of qualification improvement courses once in three years is mandatory for every teacher.
The chief scientific-methodological center for retraining and qualification improvement of pedagogical, administrative and research personnel of the system of higher education is engaged in the methodological management of all the institutions of the system. The experts of the Center had carried out extensive work on the improvement of curricula and training plans and elaboration of scientific-research and methodological materials. There’s been introduced a system of strict control over the timely undergoing of refresher courses by every teacher.
Five regional and 16 branch centers deal with professional development of the faculty. The regional centers are functioning under the State Universities and engaged in qualification improvement of the faculty in general educational disciplines. The branch centers, as a rule, are set up under the industry higher educational institutions and involved in raising the faculty’s qualification in their professional subjects. Great attention in qualification improvement training is paid to the faculty’s continuous work on the improvement of their professional level, so that they keep themselves aware about the latest developments in science and technology. They are provided with educational literature and books, which are designed to turn into the desktop directories for them.
The process of deeper integration of education and science is not an incidental one. At a time when the leading professors are involved in the solution of science-intensive high-tech problems of development of our society, they master the most advanced information and, thus, their lectures and practical lessons are filled with information from the frontlines of advanced science and technology. Namely, this provides with an opportunity to train specialists ready to address the most pressing tasks.
