The Government of Uzbekistan’s Development Strategy 2017-2021 includes an extensive reform and modernisation programme designed to raise the country’s competitiveness and openness and boost economic growth.
In support of this, the British Council together with the Centre for Professional and Vocational Education (CPVE) organised a roundtable discussion to review how TVET is developing and changing in the country, highlighting the main challenges and opportunities facing the sector and current trends in the labour markets. The progress review also took stock of the direction in which the development of TVET systems is heading, to further enhance and align TVET’s contribution to the economy. The review has resulted in a joint project ‘Skills for National Development in Uzbekistan 2018-2020’.
Our objective
To build the capacities of the Ministry for Higher, Secondary and Specialised Education (MHSSE) and its institutions and partners, and to coordinate and implement national reforms in the context of national employment and skills agendas. We work with the CPVE of the Ministry and institutions dealing with employment and skills development policies and social inclusion. The project will reinforce the legislative implementation and set up sound coordination mechanisms on policy design, monitoring and reporting. We are also aiming to train staff from the CPVE in the management of TVET providers, to help establish a TVET management and information system, introduce new service models such as coaching for employment approaches and review and redesign active labour market measures to increase efficiency and effectiveness.
The project focusses on four sectors – tourism, agriculture, energy and construction.
These measures will underpin the formation of a TVET Strategy and an NQF (National Qualifications Framework) for the country.
Our strategy
- To undertake an environmental scan that shows what the current provision is and what gaps there are when compared with the skills demands
- To create revised curricula across all TVET subjects based on occupational standards and competency assessments
- To strengthen the teachers’ professional development
- To create the foundations for an NQF to be developed and applied.
Skills for the National Development Board
Skills for The National Development Board have been established, made up of key stakeholders. This will build on the original British Council Skills for Employability project Skills Group to incorporate the wider remit and scope of the project and to reflect the impact of new TVET regulations in Uzbekistan. The members of the Board include:
- Public sector – ministries and education representatives
- Private sector – employer representatives and associations
- The chair of each of the sector groups for tourism, agriculture, construction and energy
They are responsible for setting up, guiding and advising the four Sector Groups. These will be established for the abovementioned economic priority sectors.
The Skills for National Development Board will undertake the following tasks:
- Set up the Sector Groups and oversee their membership criteria and terms of reference
- Prepare toolkits for each group to support the key stages. These toolkits will include methodologies such as labour market analysis; employer engagement, an environmental scan, occupational standards development, professional standards, a NQF
- Monitor the key performance indicators set by each group through the group chairs
- Evaluate the impact of the activities at six month intervals
- Prepare a final report in March 2020
Sector Groups
These are based within the respective industry ministries responsible for TVET provision and workforce skills development. They will be responsible for taking forward three key themes:
- Occupational standards
- Resource Materials
- Building Capacity
The terms of reference, governance and scope of each group were established at a dissemination meeting in April 2018. External UK experts are guiding this process to ensure it follows international quality guidelines whilst still being appropriate to the policy context.
There are five key phases to be followed within each of the themes. These are: research and analysis; development; implementation; sustainability; and evaluation. In setting objectives and measuring outcomes the Sector Groups are taking into consideration the three key stakeholders: education, industry and government.
Our impact
To date, we have made significant progress in the development of occupational standards including carrying out an environmental scan of current provision; conducting a skills audit, undertaking a skills analysis resulting in a Gap Report; developing skills profiles and professional pathways, occupational standards with regulatory processes, and modules of learning with learning outcomes, levels and volume of learning for four sectors.
Under capacity building we have designed and delivered training programmes including competence-based training for teachers, training on a revised industry-led curriculum to Heads of Colleges, and training and support for policy makers responsible for TVET and employer engagement, as well as mentoring training for employers.
We are in the process of developing education materials including learning plans, assessment strategies and evidence requirements that will be piloted in all colleges in four sectors from September 2019.
'It is a timely project that supports the government’s Development Strategy and other government ambitions, to reform the TVET sector and meet the skills requirements of a growing economy. The Ministry is ready to cooperate in the field of developing a fit-for-purpose TVET system for Uzbekistan as well as in developing national qualifications frameworks, national occupational standards, curriculum development and teacher training. We are looking towards the experience and expertise of the UK in employer engagement, quality assurance, regulatory frameworks, and so on.' First Deputy Minister of Ministry of Higher and Specialised Secondary Education of Uzbekistan, Director of the Centre for Professional and Vocational Education
