Uzbekistan making progress in the higher education system – Peter Bonfield 

Professor Bonfield, we’re happy to see you here in Uzbekistan. Could you please highlight the key milestones of cooperation between the Westminster International University in Tashkent and the University of Westminster over the 20-year period?

Well, WIUT is now 20 years old, which is a fantastic milestone to achieve. We started with very few students at the foundation level and since then have grown and grown our academic endeavors together, such that now we have more than 5,000 students studying from foundation through to masters and to Ph.D. with an extraordinary alumnus all around Uzbekistan and around the world delivering really good outcomes within the public and private sectors. 

What is the University of Westminster’s assistance to WIUT and how do the educational systems of the two universities differ? 

Well, what’s really important and distinctive about WIUT is that our degrees from the University of Westminster in Britain are applied in exactly the same way within WIUT in Uzbekistan. So, the degrees are the same and that’s a real strength and a real difference for our institutions and our corporation. 

So, if a student from WIUT does his search at the University of Westminster he will not notice the difference in the study process? 

If a student from WIUT comes to study at the University of Westminster in London, he will notice that the actual practice of learning is the same. Of course, the life experience is very different because London, like Tashkent, has special characteristics, London is one of the world’s most dynamic, largest, inclusive, and vibrant cities and gives a different experience, but the educational process is the same. 

What can you say about the current higher education system of Uzbekistan? 

What I admire about Uzbekistan is the high ambition of young people to earn a higher education degree. That’s something to be proud of. Also, if you look at the progress made in the last five years in the coverage of youngsters with higher education, you will see that it has grown from 9% to 40%. So that’s a huge growth. With that, of course, comes all sorts of opportunities but also many challenges. So, you know, ensuring that there is rigor, that the quality, that the excellence of provision is consistent and as it should be is a challenge. WIUT, however, I should note, is a shining exemplar of excellence with a 20-year history of delivering quality higher education. So, you know, part of WIUT’s role, I guess, in this transition is to help share learning, share practice so that provision overall, especially with new international entrants into Uzbekistan, is delivered in a way that fits with the ambition of the President and the Government.