“Real changes in society will begin only when the education sector is completely cleansed of corruption” – Avazjon Marakhimov

It should be noted that the first meeting of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev when he started his career as the head of the state was with scientists and academicians who are representatives of the scientific field.

In recent years, the number of young people enrolled in higher education has increased several times. Part time, evening, distance forms of education were organized.

If we take education reforms as an example of Surkhandarya, five years ago there was only one Termiz State University in the province. Due to the low admission quota, one higher educational institution could not fully cover the need, many of our young people went to the distant capital to study. The intellectuals of the province and thousands of parents dreamed of opening other higher education institutions in Surkhandarya. At the initiative of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, a number of HEIs were established in a short period of time. Currently, there are six higher educational institutions operating in the province. This is a great opportunity for our future students and young people.

One of the other reforms is the extensive conditions created for professors and teachers. Their salary was increased by an average of 3.5 times (from 3 million to 10 million soums). In addition, it is necessary to recognize the introduction of the procedure of giving additional 30 and 60 percent increments depending on the activity of those who have a scientific degree.

One of the most important reforms in the field of higher education is undoubtedly the online organization of admission processes. The procedure for taking tests and creative exams has become more transparent. The transfer and reinstatement processes are also taking place online. This has provided convenience for parents and students while eliminating excessive expenditure, confusion and red tape. Most importantly, the human factor is not involved in these processes. The applicant can submit his application from his smartphone anywhere.

In accordance with the presidential decree of June 15, 2022 “On the organization of admission processes to state higher education institutions”, a new procedure was introduced for admission to master’s degrees and transfer of studies for the 2022-2023 academic year.

According to it,

- admission to the master’s program of state higher education institutions is carried out on the basis of the average score of the applicant’s bachelor’s degree and the score of the relevant national or international certificate on the level of knowledge of a foreign language, strictly observing the sequence of scores, and no additional examination is conducted;
- admission to master’s degree in state higher education institutions is organized twice a year – in August and January.

In this:

1) admission in August – in accordance with the admission parameters for the next academic year on the basis of state grant and payment-contract and approved by the supervisory boards of higher education institutions granted financial independence;
2) admission in January is carried out in accordance with the admission parameters based on the results of the initial admission and additional payment-contract approved by the State Commission.

Also, with the above decision, it was allowed to transfer students’ studies from one state higher education institution to another only in the following cases:

- when a student applies to transfer his studies to a higher education institution in the area where his spouse permanently lives in connection with the establishment of a family;
- when employees of state bodies apply for transfer of education of their spouse or minor child in case of change of workplace, based on the recommendation of the head of the relevant ministry (department).

After the introduction of these procedures, different opinions are expressed on social networks. Among them there are those who support this order and those who oppose it. Of course, it is difficult for the society to accept any reforms and changes at once. It takes some time.

In every field, there is a high demand for personnel who are aware of the latest news of world science. For this, knowledge of foreign languages is important. In order for the master to use the latest results of world science in his direct scientific research, he must know at least one foreign language perfectly.

In addition, the average of the score of the relevant national or international certificate of foreign language proficiency and the score of the bachelor’s degree is the basis for admission. That is, the applicant does not take any exam. This ensures openness, justice, transparency in admission, the human factor is not involved. Most importantly, the scourge of corruption, which is the worst “disease” of our society, has been put an end to in this area.

In the 2022-2023 academic year, documents were accepted from 109 applicants for 340 quotas for the master’s degree at Termiz State University in 32 directions. 76 of them were accepted for study. There was no examination of this process under the new procedure. Their international foreign language certificates and the average of their bachelor’s degree scores were used as a basis. Applicants have another chance until January. They can participate in foreign language tests, get international certificates and apply in January.

2,946 documents were accepted for transferring studies from abroad. The test exams of these applicants were also conducted by the State Testing Center.

Bribery, which has reached the level of evil in our society, the scourge of corruption, in modern terms, is the bane of our development. Over the years, this disease has increased. It is also forgotten that it is a sin. After all, in our holy religion and in the works of our scholars and thinkers, we can give many examples of the prohibition of bribery. For example, taking bribes is forbidden according to the Quran, Sunnah and Ijma.

Today, a serious fight against the scourge of corruption has begun. As a result of the President’s attention to the field of education, forced labor was completely alienated from this field.

It must be said frankly that in the recent past, due to some unscrupulous people, the system has been in a vortex of scandals. Today, admission and transfer of studies are becoming open, transparent and fair. All processes related to admission have been separated from HEIs. Creative exams are also conducted in a transparent, open, public witness.

However, despite these circumstances, some entrants and their parents are being deceived by fraudsters. Failure to understand this will not allow us to completely get rid of corruption in our society. Children have fair knowledge, their aspirations are good, they attend tutoring classes. But even so, parents start looking for unlawful ways. They are tricked by someone, a swindler, and then pretend to be a victim. In the fight against corruption, only if each of us, the general public, works together, it will yield a positive result.