Brussels: Uzbek universities sign MoU with Belgian Education Council

This week at the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Brussels, the Rectors of 10 Uzbeki universities signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Belgian Education Council in order to launch and to develop common activities and to define projects of mutual collaboration between the Parties.

Axana Pozdnyakova, in her capacity as Director, signed on behalf of the Belgian Education Council.

Also present at the signing was Chris Kendall, from the European External Action Services’s Central Asia Division, who is responsible for relations with Uzbekistan.

Such activities as encompassed under the MoU will include the organisation of professional video conferences, training programmes and academic exchanges of professors, researchers, master students, for the purposes of education, long-term and short-term internship, educational-scientific practices and training, professional (educational-manufacturing, manufacturing, research, pre-graduation and pedagogical) practices both overseas and in Belgium.

Nazima Muratova & Axana Pozdnyakova.

After the signing ceremony I spoke with fellow journalist Nazima Muratova, who is now Vice-Rector in science and innovation at the Journalism & Mass Communications University, Uzbekistan, and one of the 10 signatories to the MoU.

The institution is a relatively new one, having been founded six years ago. It currently boasts more than 3,000 students.

Mme. Muratova told me “most of all our majors focus on media and communications, international journalism, print media, broadcasting, public relations, media design, media marketing. And from this year we have one more faculty, focused on training education in social science and humanity.”

I asked what percentage of graduates were able to go straight into employment?

“The aim of our university is that we are trying to combine practical education and practice, I mean in practical journalism, and theory. We’re trying to combine them.

“And from the third of course, our bachelor degree students found their job in the market.

“Nowadays in Uzbekistan the number of media outlets is growing, and that’s why they need the new generation, new journalists.

“At the end of their education we have 80% of going into employment with media outlets. Some of them are going on to their masters degree, while some of them are going to abroad to work, or to study for a masters degree abroad.”

I assume that as in most countries there is state media as well as private media. What’s the percentage of state owned compared to private media?

“State media nowadays is declining numerically because there are a lot of private media and, commercial media is increasing in Uzbekistan generally.

“A considerable number of our alumni go on to work in public relations departments in our state organisations. We can say that 55-60% are go on to work with state media, and 40-45% in the private sector.”

So told me that “The Belgian Educational Council trying to gather universities in Uzbekistan to form a consortium of Uzbekistan universities.

“The main aim of this is that our universities will move together to an international level, something that is difficult to achieve separately.

“That’s why we are thinking about organised consortium of universities of Uzbekistan for universities in European Union.

“We yesterday introduced the results of our brainstorming, how we will work. And one of the principles of this work of this consortium, as we try to implement, it’s an interdisciplinary approach.

“Each project, each idea which we will try to implement should be interdisciplinary.

“Because today, you can see the pharmacy, university, medicine, university, journalism, for instance, or history. And we are trying to find the kind of point where these fields can be combined, could be combined. It’s one of the ideas of working on this consortium.”

The following institutions have signed the memorandum:

1.Bukhara engineering-technological institute
2.Urgench State University
3.Andijan Machine Building Institute.
4.NAMANGAN ENGINEERING-CONSTRUCTION INSTITUTE
5. Mamun University
6. Urgench Ranch University Of Technology
7. Alfraganus University
8. Gulistan state pedagogical institute
9.Karshi engineering-economics institute
10.Bukhara state medical institute
11.Management Development Institute of Singapore in Tashkent (MDIST)
12.Samarkand State Institute of Foreign Languages
13.Institute of Retraining Pedagogical Staffs and Improving Their Qualifications under Uzbekistan state institute of Arts and Culture
14.Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Reseasch
15. University of Journalism and Mass Communications of Uzbekistan
16.Bukhara State Medical University after named Abu Ali ibn Sino
17. University of Digital Economics and Agrotechnologies
18. Kimyo international university in Tashkent