Transformative Transnational Education: 20 years of partnership with Westminster International University in Tashkent

The week of 21 November 2022 saw Dr Peter Bonfield, Vice Chancellor and President of the University of Westminster, lead a university delegation to Uzbekistan. Westminster colleagues attended graduation ceremonies at WIUT, as almost 1000 graduands joined the ranks of Westminster alumni. A full programme of meetings and discussions was held, focused on Westminster-WIUT partnership development but also on engagements with high-level organisations in Tashkent. The Vice-Chancellor met representatives of ministries and government bodies, including the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialised Education.  Plans were set in train for a UK-Uzbek Rectors’ Forum, intended to bring together leaders from UK and Uzbek HE and other key stakeholders to explore new opportunities for bilateral educational partnership and address challenges in TNE at a time of significant UK-Uzbek TNE expansion.

The University of Westminster continues to develop transformative research, KE and training activity in collaboration with WIUT and in the region, including through work enabled by the Forum for Uzbek and Silk Road Studies and the Westminster Development Policy Network. Language learning is a prominent theme. Professor Gerda Wielander joined the Westminster delegation to progress her project on the impact of China’s Belt-Road initiative on Uzbekistan in the field of Chinese language education, focusing on the uptake of Chinese language learning among young people as an indicator of China’s soft power appeal in Uzbekistan. 

Professor Andrew Linn, Head of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Westminster, met with the Agency for Promoting Foreign Language Learning  (LPA) under the Cabinet of Ministers to discuss the development of sector-wide training provision to support university teachers and stakeholders working through the medium of English. This is a critical initiative for Uzbekistan. The use of English in education has burgeoned in recent years following a series of presidential decrees.  Research suggests that EME (English-medium education) entails serious challenges for teachers, students and administrators across Higher Education in Uzbekistan as well as globally: challenges seldom recognised by ministries and universities eager to achieve growth. The Global Education team at WIUT is developing EME sector-wide training, covering language and pedagogical skills for English-medium education. The training will bring together the research and course development expertise of the University of Westminster and local knowledge and delivery channels provided by WIUT.  The LPA has undertaken to promote the training via their list of approved qualifications. The EME plans build on previous research and capacity development work undertaken in collaboration with the British Council in Uzbekistan. 

The University contributes to policy developments in Uzbekistan in other ways, in collaboration with WIUT and other agencies. Professor Alexandra Hughes, Westminster‘s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement), and Bakhrom Mirkasimov, Rector of WIUT, both attended the first meeting of the national Inclusive University working group under the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialised Education. Coordinated by the Ministry and the British Council in Tashkent, the group is the outcome of an Inclusive University Conference organised in May 2022 as a joint initiative of the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialised Education, the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the British Council, WIUT, and the University of Westminster.

The group will take forward critical impact-driven work on inclusive higher education provision in Uzbekistan, focusing on embedding inclusion in university strategies; shaping an inclusive curriculum; and inclusive student support. Priorities for the Ministry include widening access for people with disabilities and people from low-income families, as well as women’s and girls’ empowerment. The group will aim to develop good practice materials deriving from national and international expertise, in recognition of the socio-cultural, educational and economic benefits of inclusive HE. 

The University of Westminster visit to WIUT also included the first Tashkent Business & Economic Conference, featuring speakers from both institutions alongside speakers from within and outside Uzbekistan. Dr Karen Jackson, Reader in Economics in the University of Westminster's School of Organisations, Economy and Society and co-organiser of the Westminster Development Policy Network, gave a keynote speech. Alumni of WIUT occupy leading positions in business and industry sectors in Uzbekistan, and Westminster and WIUT colleagues joined forces to reflect on best practice in employer and alumni engagement and on future areas of collaboration. Lively alumni and business networking events rounded off the visit week.

Over the past twenty years the partnership between the University of Westminster and Westminster International University in Tashkent has become a beacon of educational quality and transformative TNE. It remains the best example of a sustainable British-Uzbek HE partnership. Future collaborations between Westminster and WIUT will continue across the spectrum of teaching, learning, research and knowledge exchange, guided by a recognition in both institutions of the vital role transnational educational collaboration plays in bilateral UK-Uzbek relations at a time of unparalleled social and global change.

Central Asia remains a region of major interest for the UK. There is huge potential for trade and investment links between Britain and the Central Asian republics: for growing political, economic, cultural and defence and security ties. Uzbekistan is of particular importance for British engagement and strategy in the region, with exports worth £111m to the end of Q2 in 2022. The 2019 United Kingdom-Uzbekistan Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) ensured that the UK and Uzbekistan continue to grant each other most-favoured nation (MFN) status for trade. Recent commitments by the government of Uzbekistan to far-reaching economic and other reforms will further strengthen the potential for connection. At the latest meeting of the Uzbek-British Trade and Industry Council (UBTIC), held in Tashkent on 30 November 2022, opportunities for bilateral cooperation in fields such as financial services, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure and construction were at the forefront of discussions. 

As UBTIC confirmed, high quality educational partnerships play a primary role in relations between the UK and Uzbekistan. The partnership between the University of Westminster and Westminster International University in Tashkent is the oldest of such connections, and a unique collaboration.

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