International certificates to count toward school graduation exams in Uzbekistan

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced this initiative at a meeting on 15 September.

The president noted that tens of thousands of school students earn international certificates in foreign languages and sciences every year.

For instance, until 2016 only about 2,000 school students in total had obtained such certificates. By 2024, however, 150,000 young people earned international certificates in foreign languages alone. From now on, these certificates will also be recognized during school graduation exams.

“At today’s event, we are joined by Billura Ikramova, a young girl from Kogon who, despite her age, inspires hundreds of her peers to achieve great success. Billura graduated from the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, which ranks in the top 200 worldwide, and declined offers from major institutions to instead teach English in a remote village school in Romitan,” the president said.

“Another example is Nodira Nabiyeva, a doctoral student at Oxford University, who developed an innovative methodology for teaching English to students with hearing impairments. It makes us proud that professors at universities in Germany and the United States are using her method. My greatest goal is to give priority to education and once again to education, and to expand the ranks of such talented and dedicated young teachers. I am ready to provide any conditions necessary to achieve this,” the president added.

Over the next year, 100 vocational colleges in Uzbekistan will establish cooperation with educational institutions in Germany, Switzerland, China, Korea, and the United Kingdom to introduce advanced vocational training programs.

In addition, applicants with relevant professional skills will be able to take exams through international assessment systems at these colleges and obtain internationally recognized certificates.

Starting from the 2025/2026 academic year, in cooperation with the UK’s Pearson company, the international BTEC program will be introduced in 14 vocational colleges across the regions. This will allow young people to master in-demand professions based on international standards in fields such as tourism, information technology, medicine, construction, logistics, electrical engineering, energy, mechanical engineering, biotechnology, and the creative economy.

A competition will be held among colleges that have concrete projects with enterprises to establish modern workshops. The winners will receive modern equipment and tools for workshops, as well as sports facilities.