Today on 10 December 2021 UNESCO jointly with the State Inspectorate for Supervision of Quality in Education of Uzbekistan organized High-level Expert Meeting on strengthening stakeholder partnerships to ratify and implement the Convention on recognition of Higher Educational Qualifications to promote the recognition of higher educational qualifications in Uzbekistan.
The UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications in Higher Education (the Tokyo Convention) provides a mechanism for countries in the Asia-Pacific region to facilitate recognition of higher education qualifications through basic principles, increased information provision and transparency. Ratification of the Convention demonstrates a country’s commitment to improved mobility of students and academics within Asia and the Pacific, while also strengthening collaboration and solidarity across the region. The Convention entered into force on 1 Feb 2018. As of August 2021, twelve Member States – Afghanistan, Armenia, Australia, China, Fiji, the Holy See, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand, the Russian Federation, and Turkey have ratified the Tokyo Convention.
Ratification of this Convention will facilitate wider student mobility in the region, promote enhancing the quality assurance in the higher education provision and facilitate employment opportunities of Uzbek graduates in other States party to the Tokyo Convention.
Meeting objectives:
- Raise national-level awareness and capacity with regards to the benefits, challenges, and ratification procedures of the Tokyo Convention and Global Convention on recognition of Higher Educational Qualifications;
- Promotion of key national outreach mechanisms such as a National Information Centre (NIC) to provide authoritative information on higher education and the recognition of qualifications;
- Discussion of the draft roadmap on the institutional arrangements required to ratify the recognition Conventions;
- Strengthening the role of quality assurance in education systems to build trust in qualifications domestically and across borders.
Stakeholders from higher education institutions and technical experts shared their insights and exchange views on emerging priorities for Uzbekistan.
This significant meeting assessed related gaps and needs in Uzbekistan for quality-assured higher education.