08.08.2025

On August 8, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a meeting on the issues of ensuring employment of universities’ graduates. 

Despite that in the past seven years the admission quota to universities increased by 4,5 times, the coverage of youth with high education reached 42 percent, the system of personnel preparation still doesn’t meet the real demand of the market. 

For example, the “BYD” plant in Jizzakh currently has 100 vacancies. A quarter of them are for engineers in robotics, robot programming and painting. As the plant reaches full capacity, the demand for qualified personnel will increase.

There is a serious gap between university training of students and the requirements of employers. As a result, enterprises are forced to attract specialists from abroad. At the same time, the state spends 25–30 million soums per year on training a single student. However, more than half of graduates, after receiving their diploma, work in low-skilled positions.

In recent years, as a result of granting financial independence to 40 universities, the income of higher education institutions in such fields as economics, law, medicine, foreign languages and pedagogy has increased. However, fields such as agriculture, veterinary science, engineering and the exact and natural sciences remain unattractive to young people.

To strengthen cooperation with industry, 25 engineering universities have established 438 departments on the basis of enterprises. For example, in the oil and gas sector, educational and production clusters have been formed. Due to this, more than 2 thousand graduates of the Bukhara technical university have been employed in their specialty. The number of commercialized scientific developments has increased tenfold.

In the coming years it’s planned to implement major projects in Uzbekistan worth $83 billion, which will create demand for over 500 thousand specialists only in industrial sphere.

For instance, a launch of a large gas-chemical complex is expected soon in Bukhara region. Implementation of major projects together with foreign partners started in Ustyurt.

All this requires accelerated adaptation of the higher education to the requirements of the sectors, improvement of the quality of personnel preparation and expansion of youth employment support.

At the meeting, the President put forward a range of new initiatives.  

From now on, the feasibility studies of projects worth over $1 million and employing more than 50 people will specify the need for specialists by field. Based on this, responsible ministries and agencies will place targeted orders for training personnel at universities.

Rectors will introduce additional educational modules for students studying under these orders. Credit points will be awarded for completing the modules.

Starting from the second year, students’ knowledge will be assessed annually together with investors – potential employers. The topics of graduation theses will be determined in line with the project’s objectives. Graduates who meet the investors’ requirements will be guaranteed employment.

A system is being created to increase the private sector’s engagement: entrepreneurs who hire graduates will receive additional points in their rating. Universities will send graduates to enterprises with open vacancies.

The issue of strengthening the authority and responsibility of rectors was also considered. The evaluation system introduced at the “New Uzbekistan” University will be extended to all universities.

Universities will receive up to 40 points for the level of graduate employment, up to 30 points for fulfilling industry orders and selling scientific developments, up to 20 points for scientific potential and publications in recognized international journals, and up to 10 points for attracting local and foreign grants. University funding will be formed based on the accumulated points.

On the basis of the “New Uzbekistan” University, a program called the “School of Rectors” will be created for the targeted training of candidates for the positions of rectors and vice-rectors.

All universities will be granted academic and organizational autonomy. In particular, rectors will be able to independently appoint deputies, allocate staff positions within the established limit, and set differentiated tuition fees for super-contracts. 

Responsible officials have been instructed to ensure fair and systematic implementation of these innovations.

The Head of State also put forward another important initiative.

Applicants already have the opportunity to choose up to five universities when submitting documents. Now this mechanism will be expanded: if an applicant is not admitted to any of the chosen universities, but their score meets the requirement for an unfilled program in another university, they will be able to be admitted there on a contract basis.

Special attention was given to supporting the employment of 2025 graduates, whose number amounts to 92 thousand.

It is planned that 20 thousand of them will continue their studies in master’s programs or obtain a second specialty, another 20 thousand will be employed through the Ministry of employment in positions not requiring work experience, about 10 thousand will be covered through regional “business incubators” and employed in the fields of entrepreneurship, marketing, design and IT.

Additional opportunities for youth employment in such sectors as chemistry, energy, geology, machine building, metallurgy, textile, electronics, construction, transport, logistics and social sphere, were determined. 

With the help of commercial banks, support will be provided for launching businesses by 20 thousand graduates. In particular, $300 million has been allocated to the National Bank and “Aloqabank” to finance youth employment.

There will also be an opportunity for part of these preferential loans to be granted to enterprises that hire graduates. Such entrepreneurs will be eligible for loans of up to 5 billion soums at 18 percent interest. The new system will apply not only to this year’s graduates but also to those who graduated within the last three years.

It was emphasized that special attention must be given to caring for unorganized youth by involving them in useful activities – professional and language clubs, sports events and patriotic initiatives.

At the end of the meeting, opinions of responsible officials, rectors and entrepreneurs were heard.