competitiveness of universities of Uzbekistan. In addition to such basic elements
as funding and infrastructure (buildings, capacities, equipment etc.), universities do
need to expand international exchange programmes for students, teachers and
researchers. Moreover, it might make sense to move away from the Soviet model of
separating academic activity into education (HEIs) and research (scientific institutions)
and to foster merging of universities with research institutes and centres (certainly not
for the purpose of cost saving!
). In this case, in the long-term, some universities in
Uzbekistan could aim at being represented in international rankings of HEIs (for
example, in the list of the world’s 500 top universities), since they would greatly improve
some indicators (i.e., citation in scientific papers) based on which international rankings
are created.
Promote development of new directions in teaching and research. The country
needs research and staff training in certain fields, where no experience up to date
exists. In the context of LLL these new directions of activities could be crucial. This
primarily applies to research and staff training in educational policy studies, andragogy
(pedagogy for adults), etc. These fields are very practical and could contribute to the
professionalization of staff and managerial decisions in the sector.
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