Uzbekistan opens higher education to more global partners

Uzbekistan is expanding its higher education system, adding foreign university partnerships, updated curricula and new research funding as it seeks to become a regional hub for students and academics. The reforms also launch a new application portal for international students ahead of the 2026/27 academic year.

Why it matters: - Uzbekistan is using higher education reform to draw more students, researchers and faculty from abroad. - The changes are also meant to strengthen research output, expand innovation and support the country’s broader economic goals.

What happened: - Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Kongratbay Sharipov said Uzbekistan has rebuilt its higher education system over the past decade. - The number of higher education institutions increased from 77 to 207. - Gross enrolment rose from 9% to 44%, bringing hundreds of thousands of young Uzbeks into tertiary education. - Uzbekistan now has 32 foreign higher education institutions operating in the country. - The system includes 441 joint academic programmes with international partners. - Forty-two of those programmes are run with universities ranked among the global top 500. - International students will be able to apply to Uzbek universities through the new Study in Uzbekistan portal starting in the 2026/27 academic year.

The details: - All universities in Uzbekistan have adopted a credit-module system. - More than 2,000 academic programmes have been updated to match international curricula. - One hundred eighty-five programmes have received international accreditation. - The New Uzbekistan Scholarship Programme and the Central Asia International Education Conference are part of the effort to raise Uzbekistan’s profile in the global education market. - A competitive grant-based research funding system supports 586 active projects with combined funding of UZS 1.1 trillion, or about $90.2 million. - Public research funding increased 2.5-fold since 2018 to UZS 484.2 billion, or about $39.7 million, in 2025. - The higher education ecosystem now includes 68 university spin-offs and more than 300 commercialised research outputs. - Seventeen engineering schools focus on green energy, artificial intelligence, mechanical engineering and industrial technologies. - Oxford Business Group signed a cooperation agreement with the Tashkent-based Center for Higher Education Development and Global Cooperation during its in-country research. - The center works to attract international students, researchers and faculty.

Between the lines: - Uzbekistan is not just adding foreign branches. The government is trying to pull global standards, teaching methods and research practices into the national system. - The mix of accreditation, joint programmes and research commercialisation suggests a shift from access expansion toward quality and output. - The country is also positioning universities as part of its industrial and innovation strategy, not only as education providers. - Abduvali Xolijov, the center’s director, said the goal is to make Uzbekistan visible as a place where serious academic work and international collaboration are happening.

What's next: - Sharipov said the next phase will focus on attracting international talent. - Uzbekistan also plans to increase research commercialisation. - The government wants to build the human capital base needed for its wider economic agenda. - The Study in Uzbekistan portal will become a key intake channel for international applicants in the 2026/27 academic year.

The bottom line: - Uzbekistan is trying to turn higher education reform into a global recruitment and innovation strategy, with international partnerships at the center of that push.