On 5 February 2019, the Embassy of Uzbekistan to the United States held a ceremony of signing of the General Agreement on the provision of educational services and the Agreement on the use of premises between the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Webster University.
The signing of the agreements marks the opening of the first permanent branch of an American university in Uzbekistan, the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan said.
The event was attended by officials from the US State Department, the Department of Education, USAID, the American Councils for International Education, the World Bank, the IMF, representatives of the educational and analytical circles of the United States.
The ceremony was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister Tanzila Narbaeva, Minister of Employment and Labor Relations Sherzod Kudbiyev and Chairman of the Association “Uztextileprom” Ilkhom Haydarov, who was on a working visit to the USA.
In his speech, Ambassador Javlon Vakhabov stressed that investing in human capital and raising standards and the quality of education in Uzbekistan is the most priority aspect of the leading policy of the republic. He also separately noted the favorable conditions created in the country for the activities of foreign universities and urged those present to take advantage of the opening opportunities of the educational market of the republic.
The President of Webster University, Elizabeth Strobl, expressed her gratitude for the great honor shown to the institution to be the first American university providing academic programs in Uzbekistan. “We are all indebted to the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev for his leadership in promoting landmark reforms in education, science and healthcare – they created the basis for promoting our partnership,” the head of the American university said.
In her opinion, Webster’s desire to become part of the educational process in Uzbekistan is based on the recognition of the country’s historical and cultural significance in the world community. As she stressed, the launch of the Master’s program in teaching English has exceeded all expectations of the American university, and now they intend to expand.
In accordance with the previously reached agreements, the Webster University in September 2018 launched the TESL Master’s Program (teaching English as a second foreign language) on the basis of the Uzbek State University of World Languages, which is currently used by more than 120 students of Uzbekistan.
Webster University will now provide a full range of academic programs for both undergraduate and graduate programs, particularly in business administration, marketing and entrepreneurship, computer science, journalism and media industry, health management, STEM education and innovation and other areas learning.
Speaking at the ceremony, Assistant Secretary of State for Education and Culture Mary Royce emphasized that the Bureau of Education and Culture she headed would fully support the “new era of strategic partnership” achieved during the historic visit of President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the United States in May 2018. Last year, 570 students from Uzbekistan studied in the United States, and this indicates a 30% increase from the previous year.
“I happened to be convinced of the ambitiousness of Uzbekistan’s plans to reform the school system during a meeting with the Minister of Education Sherzod Shermatov,” said in turn the senior adviser to the US Secretary of Education, Maurin McLaughlin. “I visited Uzbekistan dozens of times and made sure that the schools I visited, the students I met and the people I worked with are very strong. I have great impressions from the cities of world heritage – Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva.”
Stressing the particular importance of strengthening educational and cultural ties for expanding the strategic partnership between the two countries, the senior adviser to the minister said she was ready to fully support cooperation in the field of education between the two countries.
