On January 28 was held a seminar on the Perspectives for Development of Uzbekistan’s Education System: Problems and Solutions.

Enrico Pinali, the Deputy Country Director of the Asian Development Bank Uzbekistan Resident Mission, said that Uzbekistan can achieve development through a strong emphasis on education, science and innovation.

“The skills development system in the country is mainly composed of vocational education and training (VET) for secondary education graduates who will become labor market entrants, and the recently evolved professional training for reskilling unemployed jobseekers. Despite high access to VET, there has been a serious skills mismatch", he said

According to Enrico Pinali, employment of fresh VET graduates was reported at 54.2 percent in 2017. Among those employed, only 59 percent of males and 51 percent of females were hired in a position related to the area in which they were trained, and 60 percent of them were hired below their level of qualifications. In addition, the underdeveloped labor market information system and employment service further limit workforce development.

To this end, a national qualification framework is being developed in Uzbekistan.

According to Asliddin Adilov, the Deputy Head of the Quality Control Inspection said that “The first efforts to create a national qualification framework started 20 years ago. However, the task has been postponed because the lion’s share of tasks had to be borne by educational institutions”.

The conference participants noted that with the development of a national qualification framework based on international standards will make it possible for Uzbeks to find a job overseas with an Uzbek diploma.