Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — Under the chairmanship of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, an expanded meeting was held to discuss the employment of university graduates.

Over the past seven years, admissions to higher education institutions have increased 4.5 times, and the coverage of enrolled students has reached 42%. However, it was noted that the system of workforce training does not correspond to actual labor market demands.

For example, at the BYD factory, which produces 20,000 cars annually, there are 100 vacant positions. A quarter of these vacancies are for engineers specializing in robotics, painting, and robot programming.

Due to a shortage of qualified personnel, the factory employs 80 specialists from abroad. The plant plans to reach full capacity in 4 to 5 years, producing 500,000 cars per year, which will require 4,000 highly qualified specialists.

"These calculations pertain to only one project. Taking into account large-scale projects worth 83 billion dollars planned for implementation in the next 3 to 4 years, approximately 500,000 specialists will be needed in the industrial sector," stated the head of state.

The meeting highlighted a significant mismatch between the specialists trained at universities and the needs of employers.

For instance, the light industry sector requires 4,000 highly skilled specialists. Yet annually, an average of 2,500 students graduate in this field, and 42% of them remain unemployed because they lack the skills to operate modern equipment at enterprises. As a result, entrepreneurs are forced to recruit qualified specialists from abroad.

The President critically addressed shortcomings in employment accounting metrics.

Although official data indicates that out of 231,000 university graduates this year, 125,000 are employed, in reality, 42,000 of them are engaged in self-employment activities.

The state annually spends 25 to 30 million soms on training each university student and their professional development.

However, more than half of young specialists who have graduated and obtained diplomas work in professions with low qualification requirements.

It was noted that granting financial autonomy to forty universities is beginning to yield results.

For example, higher education institutions specializing in economics, law, medicine, languages, and pedagogy have sufficient funding. Nonetheless, pressing issues remain concerning the insufficient financial independence of some universities specializing in agriculture, veterinary science, engineering, and the exact and natural sciences (STEM), which reduces their attractiveness to youth.

The President emphasized the need to intensify the implementation of the “industry — enterprise — university” chain.

In this area, 25 engineering universities have established 438 departments based on partner enterprises. For instance, in the oil and gas sector, “education — production” clusters have been created. Bukhara Technical University, in addition to the oil and gas sector, organized branches of 20 departments on the basis of 10 additional enterprises.

A large gas chemical complex is expected to launch in Bukhara region in the coming years. Foreign companies have started work on new projects in the Ustyurt area.

The President noted that it is now necessary to answer the questions of where specialists for these facilities will be trained and who will conduct the scientific research.

Henceforth, the demand for specialists will be determined by sectors and fields based on techno-economic justifications for projects valued at over 1 million dollars with a workforce exceeding 50 people.

On this basis, responsible ministers and industry leaders will place orders with universities, organizing targeted workforce training.

At the same time, rectors are introducing additional academic modules for students trained under these orders, alongside their main disciplines. Students earn credit points for studying these modules.

Students’ knowledge from the second year onward will be evaluated annually with the participation of investors interested in their employment. Students defend their theses based on tasks set within specific projects.

In other words, a system is being created whereby graduates who meet the needs of investors are guaranteed employment by those very investors.

Analysis showed that due to bureaucracy, the private sector is not motivated to provide information about vacancies.

Therefore, a decision was made to create a system that would be convenient and beneficial for the private sector regarding the employment of university graduates.

To this end, a separate indicator will be introduced into the entrepreneurs’ rating.

Entrepreneurs will independently input data about their vacant job positions, specifying required specialties.

Universities will also connect to the platform, and the university’s “career center” will link graduates with enterprises that have vacancies.

Most importantly, entrepreneurs will receive additional points for hiring graduates.

Universities will receive a bonus of 500 million soms from the university fund for a “career center” that employs more than half of its graduates.

The head of state emphasized the need to implement a new system that includes expanding the powers of university rectors and increasing their responsibility.

Now the “New Uzbekistan” evaluation system will also be introduced in universities.

Funding will be allocated based on the points the university earns.

Universities will receive points according to the following criteria: graduate employment — 40 points, fulfillment of sectoral orders and product implementation — 30 points, scientific potential and publications in recognized international journals — 20 points, attracting local and foreign grants — up to 10 points.

For example, if Karshi Technical University scores 85% of the total possible points, a 20% bonus will be added to its budget allocation of 78 billion soms for the current year. Conversely, if the score is below 56%, funding for the next academic year will be reduced.

It was noted that scientific universities such as the National University, Irrigation University, as well as social universities like Madaniyat va San’at (Culture and Arts) and the Conservatory, cannot be equated with technical universities that have a practical focus.

Accordingly, responsible officials were instructed to take this into account when developing rating criteria.

From now on, self-employment will not be counted as employment of graduates.

Within the framework of “New Uzbekistan,” a targeted personnel reserve for rector and vice-rector positions will be prepared through the School of Rectors.

Candidates who show the best results in the training course will be sent for advanced training at Harvard University.

Rectors will be granted significant autonomy. First of all, all universities will become organizationally and academically independent.

That means the rector will independently appoint their deputies (unlike the current procedure, which requires approval from the ministry).

Each candidate will defend their annual work plan before the university council.

Rectors will independently allocate the teaching staff and administrative personnel within the approved budget and staff size.

Additionally, rectors will have the right to establish differentiated sizes of “super” contracts.

The President of Uzbekistan has put forward another initiative.

“We have given applicants the opportunity to choose five universities. It can be said with full confidence that this has been a major breakthrough in the higher education system. We will further expand this opportunity,” said the head of state.

From now on, if an applicant fails to enroll in any of the five chosen universities but their score matches a vacancy in another program at a different university, the rector of that university will be able to admit them on a contract basis.

It was emphasized that this will encourage competition between public and private higher education institutions.

The President outlined directions for the employment of 92,000 graduates who are currently unemployed, as well as the creation of additional jobs.

Twenty thousand graduates will be covered by master’s programs and additional qualifications. About another 20,000 graduates can be employed at roughly 10,000 enterprises in positions that do not require prior work experience.

Each region was tasked with organizing business incubators where employment for 15,000 to 20,000 graduates will be ensured through startups, marketing, design, and IT services.

In sectors such as chemistry, energy, geology, automotive, metallurgy, and pharmaceuticals, there is an opportunity to employ 10,000 graduates specializing as engineers, technologists, operators, specialists in standardization, quality control, finance, and economics.

Additionally, local industrial sectors—textiles, leather production, electrical engineering, building materials, and food industry—could provide stable jobs for 5,000 to 7,000 graduates.

Responsible parties were instructed to ensure employment for 6,000 graduates in transport, logistics, roads, construction, and utilities, and to provide jobs for 10,000 graduates in educational and training institutions in pedagogy, medicine, social protection, culture, and arts.

Moreover, support for starting their own businesses will be given to another 30,000 graduates.

Overall, banks have been allocated resources amounting to 300 million dollars to ensure youth employment.

Since many graduates are hesitant to take out large loans they may not be able to repay, an initiative was approved to allocate part of the concessional credit resources to enterprises hiring graduates.

Now entrepreneurs will receive loans at an 18% interest rate up to 5 billion soms, depending on the number of graduates they employ.

For example, enterprises receiving loans up to 1 billion soms must employ at least one graduate, while those receiving loans of 5 billion soms must employ at least five. If an enterprise that received a concessional loan dismisses a graduate within two years, the loan’s interest rate will be adjusted to a commercial rate.

This new system applies not only to current graduates but also to those who graduated within the last three years.

The head of state also addressed the issue of working with unorganized youth.

It was noted that the employment of 115,000 people is being addressed by the leaders of ministries, regions, and districts. Meanwhile, 52,000 young people facing difficult life circumstances have been placed under the care of law enforcement agencies, yielding positive results.

However, systematic work is still needed with the remaining 5,500 unemployed youth, 31,000 young people in difficult circumstances, and 3,000 expelled students to help them find their path in life.

Responsible officials were tasked, together with local governors, community leaders, their deputies, and youth leaders, to train 9,000 unorganized and expelled young people in entrepreneurship, foreign languages, and modern professions, as well as to ensure their employment.

They were also assigned to engage 31,000 young people facing difficult circumstances in professional and language clubs, sports competitions, and military-patriotic events.

Reports from responsible persons were heard at the meeting.