British Council and its activities in Uzbekistan

1.

British Council and its
activities in Uzbekistan

2.

On 15 December, a press conference was held in Tashkent to celebrate the
25th anniversary of the British Council in Uzbekistan.
The press conference was attended by the Director of the British Council Denise Woddingham, the British Ambassador to Uzbekistan - Tim Torlot,
representatives of the Ministry of Public Education, the Ministry of Culture, the
Ministry of Higher and Secondary Education and other partners.
The work of the British Council in Uzbekistan began with the signing of a
formal bilateral agreement with the government of Uzbekistan in October
1996. Over the years, the organization has made significant strides in
strengthening educational, institutional and cultural relations between
Uzbekistan and the UK.
The activities of the British Council can be divided into 3 areas - activities in
the field of culture, art and the development of the creative economy, work
in the field of reforming the education system and teaching English, as well
as assessing the knowledge of the English language.

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Among the major achievements of recent years are:
- Support in the opening of a branch of Westminster International University in
Tashkent, where more than 4000 students are currently studying
- Development and successful implementation of a modern national curriculum
for the training of teachers of the English language. The program is implemented
in 18 educational institutions, and more than 4,000 future teachers pass it a year.
- Development of the English for Special Purpose Curriculum (ESP) used by 45
public universities
- Introduction of the “Culture of Quality” program, created jointly with the
London Metropolitan University and the Ministry of Higher and Secondary
Education. The program offers an innovative professional development path for
500 academic leaders annually for 6 years.

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Major projects include Future English, which aims to help school
graduates improve their English and provide continuing professional
development opportunities for English teachers across the country
through the Online Teacher Community platform.
“We launched the Future English program in 2021, but this year more
than 900 English teachers have been able to take advanced training
courses developed by the British Council on Modern Techniques. We
expect that by the end of 2022 there will be more than 2,000 of them.
We have ambitious goals, and in the coming years we hope that all
40,000 English teachers in Uzbekistan will be able to join and complete
our program,” said Jamilya Gulyamova, deputy director of the British
Council.

6.

In 2021, the British Council took part in the development of a strategy for a
national curriculum in English with the Ministry of Public Education. Already
from this academic year, schools and universities began to introduce a new
curriculum for teaching English, on the development of which a team from
Leicester and Cambridge Universities worked.
This year, the British Council launched the Going Global Partnership program,
which provides governments, national industry bodies, universities, researchers,
academics and students with the opportunity to collaborate and partner with
the UK. The goal of the program is to create strong, inclusive, globally
connected higher education systems that support economic and social
growth. The program includes ministerial cooperation, "Change Academy" - a
program for universities aimed at ensuring high results and quality of education
for graduates. From the new academic year, the program will pay great
attention to the development of secondary specialized and vocational
education in order to improve the quality and efficiency of educational
institutions and systems, as well as to solve the problems of developing the
necessary skills among graduates.

7.

More than 11,000 students from Uzbekistan take part in the Creative
Spark program annually, and more than 92% of the surveyed
participants noted that Creative Spark improved their knowledge of
the creative industries and the business environment, 76% of the
project participants noted that they have already begun to use the
knowledge or skills they acquired in their work. The British Council
plans to expand the number of partners in the arts and the creative
economy under the new Regional Creative Economy Program
2021-2024. The goal of the program is to develop a creative
economy, cultural leadership and creative entrepreneurship in the
country. For this, a series of conferences are planned for Creative
Central Asia on the development of leaders and politics for the
creative economy, and Creative Producers on the development of
interdisciplinary skills for aspiring producers of cultural projects.