Demand for public tertiary education in Uzbekistan is slowly declining. This trend is partly due to the increasing number of local and international private universities along with opportunities to study abroad, and partly due to the diminishing prestige of a university degree among the youth.
“Higher education in Uzbekistan was better ten years ago,” said 26-year-old Eldor from Samarkand, who decided to drop out of his master’s program at a public university despite the full scholarship he had been awarded. He explained his decision by citing the low quality of education and a lack of job prospects for graduates.
“Demand for university graduates used to be high so 90-95 percent of students knew what to do after graduation. Now, many do not understand what they want from their degree or what to do after university,” Eldor said. “For them, higher education institutions have become a store that issues diplomas. The quality of education has decreased and interest in higher education among young people is also decreasing.”
The term abiturient refers to individuals who have applied or are about to apply for university admission but have not yet become a student. Entrance exams are arranged once in a year only and students are selected based on the highest scores earned by abiturients.
On July 14, entrance exams for state universities began. This year, there was a record low number of applicants – 894,279 and 10 percent of them were denied seats in the exam for various reasons. To compare, in 2020, over 1.4 million applicants were registered. Over the past decade, the admission rate has increased from 9.6 percent in 2015 to 18.7 percent last year.
Decreasing interest in traditional public tertiary education can be explained by a couple of factors.
After the government change in 2016, the new administration’s reforms significantly impacted the education system. The number of higher education institutions in Uzbekistan surged dramatically within a few years. In 2016, there were only 77 higher education institutions. Over the next seven years, this number soared to 213 – a whopping 176.6 percent increase. This growth was achieved by establishing new public universities and branches of existing universities in new cities. Additionally, private universities were permitted, and many international universities opened campuses in Uzbekistan. Currently, there are 116 public universities, 67 private institutions, and 30 campuses of foreign universities.
“Interest in higher education has decreased because it is easy to enroll. The large number of private universities leads to the idea that a university degree is easily attainable,” said Oybek Omonov, a 20-year-old graphic designer from Tashkent.
Not only has the number of universities increased, but in 2017 correspondence studies and evening classes were also introduced. In correspondence studies (sirtqi ta’lim), students attend classes for a couple of weeks per semester only and are expected to self-study for the rest of the time. The reputations of both, as well as demand for their graduates, are low.
“I did not get what I wanted from university studies,” continued Oybek, explaining why he dropped out of his correspondence studies at Tashkent State University of Economics, which was once recognized as one of the top regional universities in Central Asia. “I think it’s better to work on myself now and become a top specialist in my field in four years than to struggle finding a job after university.”
“I got into Sign Language’s Pedagogy program at Tashkent State Pedagogical University for evening studies,” recounted Shahzoda Azizova from Kashkadarya, who also decided against finishing her studies. “The study fee was unjustifiably high and the prospect of finding a well-paying job after graduation was low. In the regions, deaf schools operate only in the centers, and even there it is very difficult to get a job.”
She also noted problems with her program. “Because it was evening studies, classes were sometimes not held,” Azizova said. “Moreover, they were more concerned about students’ uniforms and notes taken in lectures rather than their knowledge.”
Corruption in the higher education system causes widespread frustration, too. Dr. Azamat Akbarov, CEO of the Silk Road Research Academy, categorized this corruption into two levels. At the lower level, corruption permeates the educational process, including admissions, entrance exams, and study exams. For instance, local news outlets frequently report on people being arrested for accepting bribes to admit applicants into state universities. At the higher level, corruption involves inspections, accreditation, allocation of quotas for universities, and funding of educational institutions.
Witnessing injustice on many levels cheapens the value of education in the eyes of ordinary students.
“After school, I was admitted to the most prestigious college (a pre-university education institution) in my field of interest,” said Sardor Soib, 24, who currently works in the IT department of a local mobile operator company in Tashkent. The college’s principal, he noted to demonstrate the apparent prestige of the school, was also a senator in the Oliy Majlis, Uzbekistan’s parliament.
“But in practice all this meant nothing. We witnessed corruption, paper pushing, and different treatment for the rich and for ordinary students at an ‘elite’ institution. After that, I decided not to continue with traditional education and did not even apply to a university.”
Study and living expenses present another obstacle for many who want a college degree. From 2019, students pay either a study fee only, or pay a higher fee but receive a monthly allowance. The lowest tuition fee nationwide is set at public universities for pedagogy, mathematics, and science majors – at 6.3 million Uzbek soms ($500) a year.
Private universities, however, are accessible only to those from families with substantial incomes. While the average annual tuition ranges from $3,000 to $5,000, studying medicine at Central Asian University, for example, costs $8,000 per year.
“The study fee at public universities is reasonable, especially given it is not flat for all majors,” said Eldor. “However, the fees at campuses of international universities, where students have to pay $3,000-$4,000 per year, is not justified. For Uzbekistan, given how much average families earn, there should be a $1,500 cap.” Anything more than that, he said, was profiteering.
At the same time, government scholarships have significantly decreased. A decade ago, in 2015, the government supported 33 percent of new students with scholarships. Students did not pay a tuition fee and were given a monthly allowance. Last year, only 18.4 percent of freshmen started their studies without a worry of paying the bills.
Correspondence and evening study students do not receive any scholarships. They are not offered a place at student dormitories nor can they get a study loan from the 2024-2025 academic year onwards. Tashkent is increasingly packed with students as the majority of universities (at least 40 percent) are located in the capital city. When newcomers cannot find an affordable place to stay, many drop their studies and return to their home regions.
Another wave of diversion from public universities is due to study abroad opportunities. The number of youth who choose this path has drastically increased – from 28,100 in 2015 to 109,945 in 2021. Most of them study in neighboring Kyrgyzstan (38,857 in 2022), Kazakhstan (9,571 in 2022), Tajikistan (over 5,000 in 2023) and in Russia (48,700 in 2023) or South Korea (12,000 in 2023).
The sudden increase in the number of university graduates has decreased demand for them in the job market. Just three years ago, in 2021, there were slightly over half a million students countrywide. As of 2024, their number has reached to over 1.3 million. This is the result of rapid changes with a focus on quantity rather than quality of education.
“Higher education is already devalued among young people,” concludes Eldor. “In the field of economics, accounting, [and] information communication technologies, for example, a college diploma is not required. A person with 2-6 months of course studies and work experience is more valued in the labor market than a university graduate with no experience and no solid knowledge.”
Tashkent stopped issuing licenses to private universities from 2023. Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Innovation Kungirotboy Sharipov explained that this measure was taken to prevent the proliferation of low-quality graduates and reduce the number of unemployed college alumni. Five private universities have already had their licenses taken away. Sharipov also mentioned that 20 public universities are set to be closed because only 5-10 percent of their graduates have been able to find employment.
University degrees have not lost all their value yet. For many, particularly those from rural areas, a college degree is still one of the few avenues to improve their lives. However, unlike a decade ago when demand was high and supply limited, a college diploma no longer guarantees employment and the youth are skeptical of its necessity.
The author thanks the TalTech Law School at Tallinn University of Technology for providing the opportunity to participate as a fellow in Caucasus and Central Asia Research Social Innovation: Development Assistance, Innovation and Societal Transformation project that allowed her to work on this piece.