Program Goals

• improve the quality of academic instruction in social sciences and humanities
• introduce and field-test student-centered models of education based on liberal and progressive values
• support innovative initiatives in education

Despite government initiatives to reform the education system in Uzbekistan, its structure and organization, as well as curricula and teaching-learning methods, are strongly influenced by a long period of Soviet rule. Strict government control in all spheres of social life (education, access to information, business) imposed as a counterbalance to the expansion of Islamic fundamentalism and armed conflicts at the borders still keeps the country isolated from the outside world.

In the light of the political changes and economic transformation, the state is reassessing the educational system and its role in the newly establishing society. An education law, including new concepts such as time for self-education and the right for correspondence education, was issued in July 1992. Private schools and institutes of higher learning are authorized and may receive state aid under certain conditions. Public schools may introduce fees and sign contracts with firms to train their staff; they may also keep bank accounts to deposit funds they are able to raise; foreign currency accounts are also authorized when they cooperate with a foreign institution. The government introduced a new set of standards in higher education: the educational curricula should adhere to the following criteria:

• they should be more fundamental
• more humanities should be introduced into technical education
• irrespective of the educational profile, mandatory courses should be provided in foreign languages, fundamentals of economics, law, ecology, information science and social psychology

Some changes have occurred recently in the education system, but they are limited to the introduction of Uzbek language, literature, history, and culture, on the one hand, and the addition of notions of economics, law, finance and ecology, on the other hand. Although the length of the courses in humanities and social sciences have been increased in all universities and institutes for about 20 hours, the curriculum so far is largely unchanged and reflects the values of the previous regime. Moreover, curricula for many disciplines such as sociology, philosophy, political science, psychology and others, due to the collapse of the old ideology, is virtually non-existent. With most scholars and academics (predominantly ethnic Russians) leaving the country, social sciences and humanities education is left with teachers who lack solid background and knowledge in the field. The situation is exacerbated by severe shortage of textbooks. In higher educational institutions the need for textbooks is only 10% met in titles and 23% - in quantity. Because of fast changing sociopolitical environment, more than 30% of 135 books developed by national writers and published by the Ministry of Education since 1991until 1995 have become obsolete and need revising. In many institutions, courses in sociology, political science and economics are substituted by teaching President’s works because they are readily available, unlike modern books in social sciences. It is also considered to be a demonstration of loyalty to the state authorities.

Pedagogy is still very much inspired by the ideology of the soviet era and its principles concerning student training and socialization. Teaching methods are very formal, directive and not interactive; they tend to induce attitudes of discipline, stereotyped thinking and acceptance of the sociopolitical values implicit in the curriculum, rather than creativity and ability to think independently. These problems are linked to the curriculum and to teacher training, and consequently there is no short-term solution.

Lack of funding affects the material base of the educational establishments and the incentives for teachers. The education system lacks teachers and the average age of teachers is increasing. In the universities only 8% of total staff hold advanced degrees, the average age for obtaining a doctorate is 50, for a master’s degree - 36. The shortage of teachers is also caused by increased immigration of ethnic Russians and low pay for teachers. Teacher’s salary is 60% of the average salary in the state sector and represents only 40% of the total educational institutions’ budget.

Public expenditure on education in GDP dropped from an estimated 11% in 1991 to 7.4% in 1997. Moreover the overall volume of GDP has decreased over this period. This decline has resulted in a number of problems related to the maintenance of all educational establishments, and the provision of necessary equipment.

Declining tertiary enrollments have already affected the supply of professionals to organizations and government agencies, especially teachers and lawyers. Between 1990 and 1993 the number of students admitted to higher educational establishments decreased from 61600 to 28600. The demand for professionals with higher education will be only 58% met beyond 1999. Rigid admission procedures into higher education is used by the government to prevent admitting more students than can expect a job, given the present supply of training in higher education institutions and employment opportunities.

As the case in most newly independent states, national identity is the key concern of the state power. Therefore, considerable emphasis in government reforms in the education sector has been laid upon social sciences and humanities as bearers of ideology, especially with the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and extremism in the region. Due to their importance to supporting democratic changes and promoting liberal values in a society, humanities and social sciences have been the focus for OSI-Uzbekistan in the past and will continue to be within the coming years. This is where OSI can achieve the highest impact and create sustainable parallel structures to promote educational reform with links to existing institutions and programs. The program will further concentrate on the development of philosophy, sociology and economics. The program purpose is to promote education in social sciences and humanities and create supportive environment for the high level studies in these disciplines.

In difficult and unstable sociopolitical situation, achieving widespread reform in the education system in Uzbekistan is a long-term project, which would require at least five years to bring results. Within 2000-2001, to improve the quality of academic instruction of humanities and social sciences and enrich social knowledge in the country, OSI will implement the following projects:

Partners

• Ministry of Higher Education - given strong government control of the education sector and hierarchical decision making, OSI will cooperate and coordinate its efforts with the Ministry for each of its projects to secure sustainability and a larger effect on the whole system
• Ustoz Foundation - a presidential foundation with good access to power structures and funding set up to improve educational standards through teacher professional development and faculty development.
• Network OSI programs (HESP,RSS, CDC, CRC,CEU, SPELT/ESP) - the Higher Education program will integrate and utilize network resources, rich experience and expertise in the field of curriculum reform, faculty development, teacher training
• Universities - Tashkent State University, Tashkent State Economic University, University of World Economy and Diplomacy

1. Curriculum Reform

-- to introduce new courses in sociology, economics and philosophy innovative in both content and methodology, and the dissemination of new curricula in the country

As curricula play a key role in promoting the process of change in education, one of the major goals of the program is to facilitate much needed curriculum reform for philosophy, sociology and economics by introducing new courses in each of the above mentioned disciplines. The program also aims to provide means for interdisciplinary and international cooperation among academics from the region. National and external experts will work with the existing curricula towards introducing of two or three revised courses in sociology and philosophy. In economics separate curricula can be introduced for different aspects of macro and microeconomics with culturally relevant illustrations. New curricula should involve more experiments, model illustrations, case studies giving both teachers and students sufficient understanding of the subjects to teach in a more flexible manner that promotes critical thinking and understanding rather than memorization, and interactive student-centered teaching methods. The program will use HESP CDC program model and HESP CRC model and expertise. The key stakeholders of the project are OSI HEP, which would provide expertise and contacts with HESP CDC/CRC and western universities, Methodology Centers of the Ministry and local universities, and Ustoz Foundation. The project implies:

• strengthening of the state methodology centers by creating/training a team of local experts in philosophy, sociology and economics
• establishing local infrastructure and professional networking for curriculum design for social sciences
• publishing and piloting of the curricula in targeted universities
• textbook support
• experts exchange and training

2. Textbook Translation and Publishing

-- give broader access to the world most recent developments in humanities by translating and publishing in Uzbek and Russian a selection of well-recognized books in sociology, philosophy and economics

As textbooks are very important for improving the quality and relevance of education, textbook provision for social sciences and humanities education is an urgent need. OSI will prepare a list of selected books offered by the CEU translation project. OSI will also inquire a list of books that have already been translated. A special Expert Committee will be set up for each discipline to work on further selection of the most appropriate and demanded titles based on priorities and needs identified in coordination with Curriculum Reform project. Upon the selection of the list of books to be translated, OSI will announce textbook translation competition. The following proportion of books for each discipline is proposed: economics - 40%, philosophy - 30%, sociology -30%. Percentage is estimated according to the student quantity in each field. The ratio of books translated into Russian and Uzbek will be 1:3 respectively.

3. Professor Training

-- to develop a pool of national scholars/ academics with solid knowledge and background in sociology, economics and philosophy

The efforts to stimulate changes in humanities and social sciences curricula can be coupled with the improvement of skills and methods in teaching and learning among the most promising scholars/academics. Given its rich experience and expertise in the field, OSI can foster professional development of professor/teaching staff in the fields of philosophy, sociology and economics by organizing summer schools and seminars in social sciences. OSI would organize several international summer schools in coordination with other OSI Foundations. Along with upgrading professional skills such summer universities could facilitate networking among teaching professors in the respective fields across the region. Summer schools can be not only sources for information, but also become a demonstration model for replication. Summer School participants will be resource people for both Curriculum Reform and Textbook Translation projects.

4. Education Resource Centers

--to establish a network of three resource centers which would support and replicate OSI education projects providing technical base for faculty development, curriculum development, teacher training

Access to information and awareness of the most recent developments is the one of the major problem that scholars in social sciences face in Uzbekistan. The establishment of resource centers in three regional centers could provide academics in the field with much needed training and information about new curricula. The centers will develop their own strategy and activities that will support areas such as faculty development, teacher training and curriculum reform. The centers will also support and serve progressive individuals working in the state system.

As lack of English language knowledge is one the main impediments for social scientists in Uzbekistan, the resource centers will offer English language teaching programs (SPELT/ English for Social Sciences) and also training programs for computer/Internet users. The centers can widen the scope of activities and target not only teacher but students as well and offer them international preparation courses (TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, etc) and orientation programs on how to apply for scholarships.

With the involvement of IREX, there is a potential for introducing distance education component through setting up a Distance Learning System.

The centers will be furnished with the necessary facilities to organize training courses and workshops, and will have a computerized library with open access to information and materials. The expected capacity of the library is about 20,000 titles of books, periodicals, CRC and Summer University publications.

The major partner in the establishment of such centers is Ustoz. It has an established infrastructure of chapters and affiliations in ten regions in the country. OSI will utilize the existing infrastructure of Ustoz regional chapters. These centers will serve as launchpads and basis for OSI education projects, such as professor training, curriculum design and education management training. The centers would also serve as centers for distance education development. Ustoz Foundation commits itself to creating similar establishments in other regions given OSI expertise and support, providing access to education programs, the resources and information available for the outreach regions.

The project will have six key phases:

1. Inception - viewing and assessing possible locations for RCs, negotiating with partners and local authorities over the use of premises and identifying legal operational framework for the centers (ownership, commitments) and technical infrastructure, selecting RC managers for training
2. Training - NGO management and strategic planning training for RC managers
3. Procurement - acquisition of teaching resources, equipment, supplies
4. Set up - legalized agreement with the host institution on the use of premises and ownership, an approved action plan for proposed activities
5. Monitoring - site visits, monthly reports from RC managers
6. Handover - formal hand over of the centers to local institutions

The establishment of the centers with the local Foundation, which shares goals with OSI HEP, secures sustainability for education projects.

5. Education Initiative Support

--to support initiatives in the fields of philosophy, sociology and economics education

The project is designed to support initiatives from individual institutions to introduce changes or innovations in the fields of philosophy, sociology and economics. OSI will encourage curriculum development initiatives, faculty mobility programs, university administration training, internet development grants and faculty development programs.

Timeline 2000 2001

Budget: $350,000

To wident a free access to information

• To augment the number of people speaking English

The program is focused on the development of projects that are replicable and sustainable and require three to four years to complete their educational cycle. Therefore, it is important that the program be allowed sufficient time to achieve its goal and bring the program efforts to bear. Upon thorough needs analysis, it is proposed that ELP (both SELP and SPELT) in Uzbekistan be continued for another three years, until 2003.

It is proposed that this goal be addressed through the following projects in 2000-2001:

Since its independence in 1991, Uzbekistan has continued to experience many economic and political changes that impact all aspects of life. Increased international interactions have resulted in a recognized need for English Language skills to access the international pool of scientific, cultural and social information and to participate in all areas of international relations and business. English education is viewed as a primary means of access to development projects, joint business and study-abroad programs (for country details and statistics refer to annex 1).

Presently, educational institutions in Uzbekistan are challenged, by government and public demand, to deliver good quality English Language education. However, despite this need, access to English Language instruction is still dependent on government structures. Among the most noticeable deficiencies about these structures are the shortage of funding, textbooks and resource materials, a lack of appropriate infrastructure and equipment. Inefficient bureaucratic management has resulted in excessively low teacher salaries, declining professional status and poor morale. As a result, there is a serious shortage of mid-career professionals at all levels of education system. The majority of older teachers are now almost ready to retire, while the turnover of young teachers is very high with the best of them leaving the field to seek jobs in a better paying private sector after fulfilling a two-year obligation to the government. Hiring of 4^th and 5^th year students to teach their younger peers is becoming a common practice. As a consequence, the system of English Language education is left with inadequately trained and poorly motivated workforce along with outdated teaching methods which reinforces uniform inefficient learning with little room for creativity and independence.

OSI-Uzbekistan is in a unique position to inspire and promote professionalism among EFL teachers and improve English Language instruction standards in a country where the lack of English seriously affects participation in other foundation programs.

OSI-Uzbekistan ELP prioritizes building the capacity of local organizations engaged in ELT(ESP) and empowering local EFL professionals to become teacher trainers via internationally recognized teacher training programs so that in due time they can take over pre- and in-service in-country EFL teacher training. Unlike OSI, British Council in Uzbekistan has laid emphasis on textbook development, while USIS has reduced its presence in the country to one Fellow in AY 98-99. Peace Corps concentrates on teaching English to secondary school students, rather than training EFL teachers. Moreover, PCVs are not professional trainers. UzTEA (Association of EFL Teachers) is very active and enthusiastic but, as a relatively new association, still relies on OSI, USIS and BC for guidance and financial support. OSI-Uzbekistan ELP, using OSI Network rich experience and expertise, is to fill the gap and leave behind a network of internationally qualified local EFL teachers and empower UzTEA to become increasingly self sufficient, especially in terms of leadership and professional development (see annex 2)

The tasks of ELP based on needs and situation analysis are the following:

• increase the number of English speakers in the country by working with government structures as sole suppliers of English language instruction and UzTEA
• as a cross-sectional program, provide English Language support to other foundation programs

OSI-Uzbekistan ELP proposes to address these issues through the following projects:

1. Teacher Training

Target group - EFL teachers of teacher training institutes, linguistic universities and trainers

from retraining institutes

Partners - OSI-SPELT, OSI-Higher Education Program, Uzbek Teachers of English

Association, Ministry

Budget - $90,000

• to create a cadre of local EFL teachers who could deliver in-country teacher training based on Modern ELT Methodology

Because the opportunities for professional development in the outlying regions of the country are limited, 90% of the teachers use grammar-translation as a sole method of teaching. In addition, the personal English language skills of many of them are under-developed. OSI ELP proposes to conduct a series of intensive one-week language development and methodology seminars in six regions through local UzTEA chapters. The seminars are to be delivered by two SPELT Teacher Trainers and two SPELT Fellows. SPELT Fellows have already, in many of these regions, given a series of two/three-day workshops, which have proven popular as well as informative for the participants. However, the in-service teachers need more intensive and extensive training: one-week seminars will give participants a more thorough background in methodology while improving their language skills. Each SPELT teacher trainer would give nine one-week intensive workshops (for a total of 18) each year (throughout 2000-2001), addressing one and the same group of 25 university level teachers in the regions quarterly (once every three months). The SPELT Trainers would be based in Tashkent for better coordination and be assigned to Tashkent Teacher Retraining Institute, where they could work with local trainers, involving them into teacher training activities and syllabus design, adjusting the workshops to specific needs. The SPELT Trainers will develop a syllabus for a three-week teacher training course and produce a resource book for future trainers. After the teachers completed a three week course, those of them who demonstrated leadership potential and ability to become trainers would be brought to Tashkent for a follow-up "training future trainers " workshop. These participants will be encouraged and given guidance on how to deliver teacher training workshops at local UzTEA branches or Retraining Centers. They would also be involved into Summer Camps for Secondary School EFL Teachers, providing assistance to SPELT trainers.

Throughout the course of the project OSI will collaborate with government structures (in-service teacher retraining institutions, pre-service teacher training institutes). OSI trusts that an agreement with the Ministry so that formal qualifications of trained teachers are officially recognized and reflected in their salary will secure sustainability of the project. OSI would propose that the trainers be assigned senior teachers/trainers within the government retraining structure.

• improved standards and effectiveness of English teaching and learning in major Teacher Re/Training Institutes in six targeted regions
• UzTEA has a team of 30 local trainers to deliver teacher training courses at teacher retraining centers, using new syllabus and methods with a partial guidance from OSI-SPELT

This project might require another two years (2002-2003) to fulfill its task. OSI might give 30 local trainers an opportunity to prepare for and sit an internationally recognized exam (for example CEELT) so that UzTEA had a cadre of certified trainers all over the country and could deliver TT courses on a high professional level. Together with the British Council and/or OSI-SPELT UzTEA would develop a coordinated program of teacher development activities in each region using a cadre of local certified trainers.

2. Summer Camps

Target Group - Secondary school EFL teachers from the regions

Partners - OSI-SPELT, Peace Corps, UzTEA

Budget - $60,000

• provide intensive language development training and exposure to basic methodology to secondary level teachers

Because teachers in the regions have limited access to teaching resources and few opportunities for professional development, their English Language skills are poor and those teachers very often do not qualify for methodology training. Summer camps with friendly English-speaking environment and intensive and focused two-week training, facilitated by SPELT Fellows (probably from other OSI Network foundations) and Peace Corps Volunteers would help the teachers overcome frustration, improve their English skills and feel comfortable using modern methods of EFL teaching. There are excellent models of Summer camps/schools set up by other foundations (for example OSI-Kyrgyzstan) to follow. To facilitate professional networking within/outside Uzbekistan, teachers from other OSI-Network countries would be invited to participate (e.g. Tadjikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan).

• within two years (2000-2001) sixty secondary teachers with improved English skills and increased overall awareness of most recent ELT trends

Summer Camps are supposed to be held annually and supplement OSI and UzTEA Teacher Training Program. In two to three years (2000-2002), as soon as the mechanism worked out, contacts established and the training course designed, UzTEA will take over the Camps in case OSI succeeds to persuade the Ministry to include Summer Camps into government teacher retraining program.

3. Resource Centers

Target group - wide range of people, EFL teachers and students

Partners - British Council, OSI-SELP, UzTEA

Budget - $100,000

• to establish a network of four sustainable regional resource centers for English language teachers which could serve as centers for teacher development activities in the region with access to:
• ELT resources and related information
• regular training and professional development opportunities
• an e-mail network linking teachers throughout the country
• provide bases which will allow OSI and the BC to improve their regional outreach and information dissemination
• provide operational bases for UzTEA regional branches

This project, proposed and developed by the British Council, aims to provide English Teachers in the regions with at least some of the resources and information increasingly available to their colleagues in the capital. At the same time the project aims to develop and strengthen the regional presence of UzTEA to enable it to provide valuable and sustainable professional support to teachers beyond Tashkent. The main executor of the project - British Council - has considerable experience in both setting up Resource centers and in delivering training to RC managers. Its experience has shown that local ownership of such centers is essential for their long-term sustainability. Our chosen partner in this project is UZTEA which has already demonstrated that it can be effective in offering teachers the opportunity to have a stake in their own professional development and a voice in the national debate on education reform. The establishment of RCs would allow UzTEA to strengthen its regional membership and further develop its network of branches. To reduce risk, the project has inbuilt conditionality: the existence of legal agreements between the main parties on the ownership and deployment of resources and equipment supplied by the project, such as:

1. agreements with local authorities that space to host RCs will be donated by local institutions for free, which will demonstrate their interest and commitment to the project
2. agreements with local Khokimiyats (local government) which will provide legal basis for income-generating
3. agreements with prospective owners (UzTEA regional chapters) guaranteeing sustainability

There is a potential to develop income-generating language courses at RCs (e.g. English for Specific Purposes courses, TOEFL preparation). Local teachers would be given training by SPELT so that they can use the resources available for income generating: may offer English courses for general public).

The duration of the project is two years (2000-2001). The total cost of the initiative is $160,000. OSI would contribute $100,000, BC - $30,000, local authorities (in-kind contribution: rent, utilities) - $30,000 ($15,000 per year)

• Fully equipped and sustainable English language teacher RCs in 4 regional centers by the end of 2001 with a cadre of 10 trained RC Managers and UzTEA officers, approved operational and action plan for sustainability for each branch, a coordinated program of teacher development activities and an e-mail network connecting the RCs

The project would be completed in 2001. Using RCs as its operational bases, UzTEA would take over OSI teacher training activities and serve as "lauchpads" of future ELT projects.

4. ESP* support to Regional Language Learning Centers

Target group - in-service professionals from different fields, EFL teachers, students

Partners - OSI-SPELT, SELP, local Language Learning Centers

Budget - $100,000

*ESP - English for Specific Purposes

• ESP capacity building in the regions
• provide access to Modern English Language Teaching through Information Technologies

OSI has already established ESP courses at Regional Centers in Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Andijan. Provided training, teaching materials and course syllabus by OSI six local trainers are delivering ESP courses to in-service professionals from different fields. The advantage of working with the local structures is that they have legitimacy, established infrastructure and trained personnel. Despite enthusiasm and willingness to carry out the courses, at the moment these centers lack ESP expertise and funding to run the courses independently. OSI ELP plans to support the centers, which are also UzTEA regional chapters, during the year 2000 so that investments that have already been made were not wasted and brought results. OSI support would include the following components:

• training to local EFL/ESP instructors, delivered by foreign experts and/or SPELT trainers
• teaching materials, syllabus design assistance
• technical support (equipment and installation of computer assisted language learning program-CALL-ELLIS)

The third component (CALL - ELLIS) assumes overseas training of 2 local people how to use the program and also how to train others when they return home. The installation of ELLIS program would be conditional on submitting comprehensive plans/program by the centers of how they would utilize the program.

• Five Regional Language Centers capable of delivering ESP on a high professional level
• improved communication between the centers (syllabus, experience exchange)

As we deal with already established structures, we can expect the courses become sustainable by the end of 2000 with only partial guidance (expertise with teaching materials and course adjustments) from OSI.

It is very important that these projects run together to bring better results because they are coherent and complement each other: Resource Centers (RC) and Regional Language Centers (RLC) are supposed to become UzTEA operational bases for future Teacher Training activities, Teacher Training addresses the needs of RCs, RLCs and Teacher Re/Training Institutions for human resource development, while Summer Camps provide intensive training for teachers during summer holidays and give local trainers an opportunity to apply sharpen their teacher training and leadership skills.

English Language - Uzbekistan 2000-2001 ANNEX 2

(Level I) British Council -textbook

development and curriculum design

(Level II)

OSI - training

of trainers

\

USIS -

giving small

grants &

scholarships

to teachers,

textbook

distribution

OSI - teacher

training

(Level III)

Peace Corps - teaching

students

Level I - top management, coordination

Level II - human resource development - teacher re/training

Level III - language teaching

The graph shows the positioning of international organizations within the government English Language Education structure and specifies their areas of activity.

English Language - Uzbekistan 2000-2001 ANNEX 1

Capital: Tashkent (2,5 million people)

Land Area: 447,400 sq. km (10% larger than California)

Neighbored by: Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tadjikistan, and Afganistan

Population: 23,7 million (1998 estimate) - 7% of the USSR population, average age - 24 years

Urban - 40%, rural - 60%; population growth rate - 2.3%

Largest cities (population): Tashkent - 2,400,000

Samarkand - 372,000

Namangan - 333,000

Andijan - 302,000

Bukhara - 235,000

Ethnic composition of the population: Uzbeks - 15 million (74.7%); Tajiks - 934,000 (4.7%),Tatars - 468,000 (2.4%), Russians - 1,650,000 (8.3%), Kazakhs - 808,000 (4.1%), Karakalpaks - 412,000 (2.1%)

Literacy rate - 98%

• # of English language teachers (total - all levels) - 11,000 (UzTEA estimates, 1997), under 10% of them have ever had official retraining
• average teacher salary - $25
• teaching load per teacher a year - 800-1200 academic hours
• average state expenditure per student annually - about $85
• the aging of the teaching staff: despite hiring 4^th and 5^th year as teachers, about 60% of the teachers are older than 50. Young teachers usually do not hold degrees and work part-time for less salary. The number of Ph.D holders up to the age of 40 makes up only 0.9% of the total number, and those over 50 comprise 79% (from : Islam Karimov, "Program on Personnel Training and Education", Tashkent, 1997).

All educational institutions use a standard syllabus, developed and approved by the Ministry, although there can be insignificant deviations in the number of hours of practical and theoretical English taught depending on the status and category of the institution.

Universities and Institutes (specialized English Learning) - a standard 5-year course:

1. Practical English Course - 1,800
2. Phonetics - 240
3. Grammar - 240
4. Theoretical English Course (Lexicology, Theory of Phonetics and Grammar) - 400
5. Comparative Typology - 100
6. Theory of translation - 80
7. Stylistics - 80
8. Text Interpretation - 60
9. History of English - 100
10. Country Studies - (the UK)
11. Methodology - 180