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HSE University-St Petersburg Develops Partnerships with Universities in Uzbekistan

A delegation headed by Anna Tyshetskaya, Director of HSE University-St Petersburg, has visited the leading universities of the Republic of Uzbekistan. During the working visit, agreements were reached on broad educational and scientific international cooperation in a number of areas. The first step towards formalising the partnership was cooperation within a consortium and the Centre for Russian Education, which was launched on April 28 at Samarkand State University. The next face-to-face meeting between the parties will take place in June during HSE Partner Week in Moscow.

HSE University-St Petersburg Develops Partnerships with Universities in Uzbekistan

HSE University-St Petersburg

As part of the expansion of educational and scientific partnerships with the states of Central Asia, as well as the promotion of Russian higher education and the export of educational services, the delegation from HSE University-St Petersburg and its colleagues from the Perm campus visited a number of leading universities in Uzbekistan: the National University of Uzbekistan, Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies, Tashkent State University of Law, Tashkent State University of Economics, and Samarkand State University.

The parties discussed possibilities of organising joint summer and winter schools, doctoral and teacher refresher programmes, student exchanges and academic mobility for teachers, academic and professional internships, as well as joint scientific events (conferences, colloquia, round tables)—including student-oriented ones.

HSE University in St Petersburg has scheduled a wide cooperation programme with Tashkent State University of Law. The programme concerns, among other things, such issues as changing the methods of teaching legal disciplines, preparing educational and methodological materials, and mutual participation in the work of the editorial boards and editorial councils of professional periodicals.

Anton Ilyin, Dean of the Faculty of Law, HSE University-St Petersburg

Anton Ilyin

We were impressed by the high level of organisation of the education process at the Tashkent State University of Law, the desire of colleagues to keep up with the times, and the lack of fear of change, which, unfortunately, is still characteristic of traditional Russian legal education. Colleagues from the Tashkent State University of Law showed particular interest in the methodological innovations implemented within the Faculty of Law at HSE University-St Petersburg, since the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan has set tasks at the highest level to change the methodology of teaching legal disciplines at Uzbek universities. According to our Uzbek colleagues, solutions implemented by HSE University-St Petersburg on the use of the objective and task method, the creation of new textbooks, and the restructuring of the educational process at the bachelor's level fully correspond to the tasks set by the republic's leadership.

Following the meeting, it was decided to prepare agreements in several areas of cooperation, including the exchange of teaching experience and methodological resources, as well as in the organisation of inter-university student and teacher exchanges.

With Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies, a special emphasis was placed on developing scientific relations between the countries and bringing together teachers interested in conducting joint scientific research and receiving grant support for scientific groups from Russia and Uzbekistan. Representatives of the School of Asian studies at HSE University-St Petersburg and their Tashkent colleagues expressed plans to apply for joint grants, work on publications, and exchange expertise in the fields of teaching and methodology. The colleagues also showed a particular interest in the possibility of launching academic cooperation in the field of manuscript heritage of the peoples of the Middle East and Central Asia—a field in which the Department of Asian and African Studies of the St Petersburg campus has rich expertise. The parties also expressed a mutual interest in exploring particular regions and countries important to the development of both Russia and Uzbekistan—in particular, studying the politics and economies of China, India, and Japan.

In June, HSE University and Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies, Tashkent State University of Economics, and Samarkand State University are expected to sign a memorandum of cooperation. In the course of the negotiations with the administration team of Samarkand State University, it was agreed that academic staff and students from HSE University would take part in the SamSU conference on cluster economics, which took place on May 13–14. The parties also agreed to hold a joint summer school on Asian Studies in summer 2022 in Samarkand. The Uzbek side showed particular interest in the methods of teaching languages, history and cultural studies used by the department of Asian and African Studies at HSE University in St Petersburg.

The parties also reached an agreement on HSE University's participation in the creation of the Centre for Russian Education at Samarkand State University as part of a consortium of more than twenty leading Russian universities, which was created in March 2022. Representatives of HSE University's campuses donated books to Samarkand University for the Centre's library.

The opening ceremony of the Centre for Russian Education at Samarkand State University took place on April 28. Guests of the event remarked on the scale of the project, its prospects, and the variety of opportunities for cooperation. The Centre aims to form sustainable partnerships between higher education institutions in Russia and Uzbekistan, coordinate joint research and educational projects and programmes, as well as develop and implement double degree programmes.

In the next stage, the parties plan to jointly create working groups to prepare a roadmap for partnership development. The next face-to-face meeting may take place during HSE Partner Week in Moscow on June 19–21, to which all the above-mentioned universities have been invited.

During the working visit to Uzbekistan, the delegation also paid a visit to two public schools in Tashkent. They spoke to their leadership about the possibility of creating 'educational holiday' programmes for schoolchildren at HSE University-St Petersburg, which would give school students a chance to spend holiday time in a summer camp while getting to know the campus. The parties also discussed how presentations of educational programmes for potential applicants and their parents should look, and touched upon the organisation of advanced refresher programmes for teachers of mathematics, physics, computer science, history, and the Russian language.