On October 8th through 19th, delegation of South Ural State University took part in the First Russian-Uzbek Educational Forum entitled “New Employees for the New Economy”. This event was held under support and participation of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev. The Forum became a significant event for development of international cooperation in the sphere of higher education. Delegation of the university included Vice-Rector for International Relations Olga Yaroshenko and Director of the SUSU Educational Equipment and Technology Research and Production Institute, Georgii Kaliagin.
Within the Forum, more than 140 heads of educational centres of Russia and Uzbekistan gathered in one venue. Organisers of this event of international scale was Russian Union of Rectors, the Ministry of Higher and Secondary-Specialised Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan under support of executive offices of the Presidents. Within two days, participants of the Forum discussed the issues of expansion and institutionalisation of bilateral research-and-education cooperation. Especial interest of participants of the Forum was excited by a speech of the Director of the SUSU Educational Equipment and Technology Research and Production Institute, Georgii Kaliagin in the frameworks of the section entitled “Science and Innovations in Higher Education”. He presented a report entitled “High-tech educational environment as a modern tool of forming professional competencies in accordance with requirements of market economy”.
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“Leading higher education institutions of Russia and Uzbekistan gathered together in order to determine real areas of common interest: unite the best that exists in our education systems and achieve higher quality indicators in training of specialists. Among problems brought up at the Forum was the issue regarding the fact that material resources of universities in Uzbekistan not quite correspond with contemporary requirements. South Ural State University was the only university that spoke up with proposals in this direction. The 47-years-long experience of SUSU in forming a contemporary high-tech educational environment in the education process of educational institutions was presented in the report. After the report, we received a number of offers to sign agreements and contracts. This proves that our colleagues understand that we are one of the leading universities of Russia in the global space,” noted Georgii Kaliagin.
Within the Forum, a Research and Production Complex called “SUSU Education Industry” was demonstrated as well. The complex was established in order to form high-tech educational environment in the form of modern information means and education-and-laboratory equipment in educational structures both in Russia and abroad. Rector of Andijan Machine Building Institute, Uktam Salomov, proposed to create a similar structure on the basis of the university. Provided the agreement is signed, centralized programmes of equipment of Uzbek universities by research-and-education products released at SUSU are to be created.
During the Forum, SUSU delegation signed 6 perspective agreements with leading higher education institutions of Uzbekistan. Among them are: Tashkent State Technical University named after Islam Karimov, Jizzakh Polytechnic Institute, Samarkand State Architectural and Civil Engineering Institute, Andijan Machine Building Institute, and Tashkent Railway Engineering Institute. Besides, South Ural State University signed two contracts with the Tashkent Institute of Information Technologies on supply of products in the sphere of telecommunications, computer networks and information protection.
In the course of signing the agreements on cooperation and personal meetings with university Rectors, an interest was expressed in development of cooperation in the sphere of educational and research activity, as well as in implementation of interuniversity projects in the sphere of academic mobility, conducting joint research, implementation of double-degree programmes in professions and specialties that are the most demanded on the labor market. Other topics that were discussed concerned teacher and student exchange, opening of joint faculties and programmes, and inclusive education.
“The Educational Forum entitled ‘New Employees for the New Economy’ became the starting point of a new stage in relationships between Russia and Uzbekistan. In the course of the second day and during separate meetings, representatives of universities of Uzbekistan noted that they consider South Ural State University as a reliable strategic partner: by the number of the univeristy’s students, citizens of Uzbekistan are placed the third – at the moment, 222 students from the Republic are studying at SUSU. The next forum is planned to be held in Russia, and we hope that by that moment we will already achieve significant results within the signed agreements. We would like to extend a special thanks to organisers of the Forum for their especial Eastern hospitality, and to Rectors of universities of Uzbekistan who expressed personal interest and readiness for cooperation with South Ural State University,” said Vice-Rector for International Relations, Olga Yaroshenko.
It should be noted that during the Russian-Uzbek Educational Forum, about 130 agreements were signed between universities of the two countries, which proves the efficiency of interaction between research-and-education communities of Russia and Uzbekistan. The Forum is going to be held regularly within the Annual Forum of Interregional Cooperation featuring Presidents of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Uzbekistan.
