Uzbekistan

by Paul Bacsich for Re.ViCa

For entities in Uzbekistan see Category:Uzbekistan

Partners situated in Uzbekistan

None.

Uzbekistan in a nutshell

(sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzbekistan)

Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan (Uzbek: O‘zbekiston Respublikasi or Ўзбекистон Республикаси), is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia, formerly part of the Soviet Union. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south.

Uzbekistan was incorporated into the Russian Empire in the 19th century and in 1924 became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, known as the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (Uzbek SSR). It has been an independent republic since December 1991.

Uzbekistan's economy relies mainly on commodity production, including cotton, gold, uranium, potassium, and pourriand natural gas. A policy of gradual, strictly controlled transition has produced beneficial results in the form of economic recovery after 1995.

In Uzbekistan about 45% of the population live on less than US$1.25 per day.

The population of Uzbekistan is just over 27 million.

The capital (and largest city) is Tashkent.

Source : http://www.cia.gov

Languages

The official state language is Uzbek. The Tajik language is widespread in the cities of Bukhara and Samarqand because of their relatively large population of ethnic Tajiks.

Russian is an important language for interethnic communication, especially in the cities, including much day-to-day technical, scientific, governmental and business use. Russian is the main language of over 14% of the population and is spoken as a second language by many more. However, the use of Russian in remote rural areas has always been limited, and today school children have no proficiency in Russian even in urban centres. However, it was reported in 2003 that over half of the population could speak Russian.

In 1992 Uzbekistan officially shifted back to Latin script, but many signs and notices (including official government boards in the streets) are still written in Uzbek Cyrillic script (used since 1940). Computers as a rule operate using the "Uzbek Cyrillic" keyboard, and Latin script is reportedly composed using the standard English keyboard.

Schools in Uzbekistan

(sourced from the brief entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Uzbekistan)

In Uzbekistan, eleven years of primary and secondary education are obligatory, starting at age seven. This requirement includes four years of primary school and two cycles of secondary school, lasting five and two years, respectively.

The rate of attendance in those grades is high, although the figure is significantly lower in rural areas than in urban centers. Preschool registration has decreased significantly since 1991.

The official literacy rate is 99 percent. However, in recent years educational standards are said to have fallen. Between 1992 and 2004, government spending on education dropped from 12 percent to 6.3 percent of gross domestic product - but in 2006 education's share of the budget increased to 8.1 percent. Lack of budgetary support has been more noticeable at the primary and secondary levels, as the government has continued to subsidize university students.

Higher education

Uzbekistan is said to have 63 institutions of higher learning. The three largest are in Nukus, Samarkand, and Tashkent. All are state-funded.

Private institutions have been forbidden since the early 1990s.

Higher education is under the control of the Ministry of Higher and Secondary-Specialized Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan - see http://www.edu.uz/modules/wfchannel/index.php?sel_lang=english

Universities in Uzbekistan

Between 1992 and 2001, university attendance dropped from 19 percent of the college-age population to 6.4 percent.

The best known universities seem to be:

1. National University of Uzbekistan
2. Namangan State University, formerly Namangan State Pedagogical Institute (a teachers' college)
3. Tashkent University of Information Technologies - English site at http://tuit.uz/en/ (and note the entry on distance learning)
4. University of World Economy and Diplomacy - English site at http://www.uwed.uz/en/
5. Tashkent Islamic University, founded in 1999for the teaching of Islam - see a brief announcement of the UNESCO Chair at http://www.tiu.uz/eng/kaf_yunesko.htm

Polytechnics in Uzbekistan

No information known.

Virtual initiatives

Interesting Virtual Campus Initiatives

None known.

Re.ViCa Case-study

None.

Lessons learnt

None as yet.

References

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For OER policies and projects in Uzbekistan see Uzbekistan/OER

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