Working with Uzbekistan’s Presidential Schools team to transform education
How Cambridge Partnership for Education collaborated in the development of Uzbekistan’s Presidential Schools, to provide children with high-quality education - regardless of their background.
Quick read
- At Cambridge Partnership for Education, we work with ministries of education and organisations to improve education systems worldwide.
- We have supported the development of Uzbekistan’s Presidential Schools, which provide children with high-quality education, regardless of their background.
- The schools also aim to inspire education ambition across the country, taking modern methods of teaching, learning and assessment to the wider public education system.
- As a partner in the development of Presidential Schools, we initially provided expertise in STEM curriculum development, teacher and school leadership professional development, admissions testing and more.
- The partnership has grown since we started in 2019, and in 2022 we signed a new agreement to further support Presidential Schools.
An internationally competitive education
In 2016, Uzbekistan’s government started on a journey of developing an education system to equip children with the skills and knowledge needed to play an active role in ‘New Uzbekistan’ – the nation’s vision for a brighter future.
As part of this endeavour, between 2019 and 2021, it built new ‘Presidential Schools’ in each of the 14 regions of Uzbekistan, to give students aged between 11 to 18 years old access to an internationally competitive education. They provide students from across the country with free general secondary education and boarding.
The schools aim to “prepare the next generation of leaders”, while providing opportunities to students from all backgrounds and impacting wider public education in Uzbekistan.
Presidential Schools’ main priorities include:
- Selecting and educating gifted children, supporting in their full development
- Promoting in-depth study of sciences, foreign languages, engineering and information technologies
- Establishing modern methods of teaching and assessing students’ knowledge
- Developing students’ leadership, public speaking, critical thinking and analysis skills
- Supporting student participation in international competitions
- Establishing cooperation with national and international education institutions
Any child was eligible to apply in the regions where a school was opening, regardless of their background. But to win a place, they are tested on their critical thinking, problem solving and English language skills. It’s little surprise that competition has been fierce and when the first four schools opened 28,500 students applied for the 480 places available.
Cambridge’s role in the Presidential Schools
Cambridge has been proud to support the creation and development of Uzbekistan’s Presidential Schools since 2019.
The project fits with the Cambridge Partnership for Education’s mission to transform societies through education; drawing on the knowledge, research and networks from across the university.
The first stage of our work included:
- Admissions testing: we worked closely first with Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Public Education and then Uzbekistan’s Agency for Presidential Education Institutions (PIIMA) to ensure fair, valid and reliable methods were used to select students to enter the schools. They are selected based on a competitive admissions test, which was designed by experts at Cambridge Assessment Admissions Testing. To increase accessibility, tests are offered in three languages: English, Uzbek and Karakalpak.
- Curriculum design: we supported the Presidential Schools team to design a broad and balanced curriculum which combined the Cambridge curriculum in STEM subjects and Uzbek curriculum in other subjects.
- Teacher development and school leadership consultancy: We have long experience in training and developing teachers and senior management teams. On this project, we provided intensive teacher professional and school leadership development.
Cambridge also supported the first admissions test for the New Uzbekistan University – which PIIMA opened in 2021 to nurture innovation and entrepreneurship across the nation in natural sciences and humanities.
Like all of the projects we work on, key to our partnership in Uzbekistan has been collaboration with our partners on the ground. As Steve King, Senior Education Advisor at Cambridge Partnership for Education, said:
The collaboration between Cambridge and Uzbekistan’s Presidential Schools is an equal partnership, with expertise from both the UK and Uzbekistan contributing strongly.
Impact of our partnership
It’s early days, but our work in Uzbekistan is already helping to brighten the futures of many children. Students at Presidential Schools – all of which are now accredited as Cambridge Schools – sat Cambridge exams in 2022 and 68% achieved grades A* to B in their Cambridge A levels. This is all the more admirable soon sooner after studying the new curriculum in a new environment, and for many in a new language, amid a pandemic.
Every single one of the first cohort of graduates were offered places to attend university, including 25 of them to universities overseas, and 63 to internationally affiliated universities in Uzbekistan; graduates of the schools automatically receive grants for the first academic year to study at New Uzbekistan University.
Barno Rustamova was among early graduates, achieving three A*s in her Cambridge A Levels of biology, chemistry and mathematics. She said: “I was able to create lasting memories and gain valuable experience at the Presidential School in Khiva. I believe that this is mainly because of the broad and well-balanced curriculum we had.”
She added: “Speaking of my future plans, I am going to apply for medicine to one of the leading universities in the UK in order to pursue my childhood dream, which is becoming a skilful doctor and saving the lives of many people."
But the ambition of Presidential Schools goes beyond those graduates’ successes. They are intended to inspire education ambition across the country, and to extend modern methods of teaching, learning and assessment to the wider public education system.
As part of the government of Uzbekistan’s recognition of Cambridge’s contribution to the successful establishment of the Presidential Schools, it rewarded Cambridge Senior Education Adviser, Steve King, with the Uzbek National Medal for 'Selfless work in the development of public education’.
A new chapter for our partnership
In 2022, we deepened our partnership, signing a new agreement with PIIMA.
This next phase consolidates collaboration in admissions testing for schools and universities, teacher training, curriculum and examination provision, consulting and support, and school leadership training. It also:
- Sets out opportunities for supporting the agency’s new Professional Development Qualifications Centre.
- Introduces options for collaboration around publishing development.
We at Cambridge are excited to take our partnership in Uzbekistan to the next level, working in collaboration to help Uzbekistan deliver on its ambitions for continued improvements in schools, universities, teacher training, curricula, exam provision and school leadership development.
Hilola Umarova, Director of PIIMA, said:
Cambridge is a partner we know we can rely on. They're helping us to achieve our vision to build a strong nation with solid foundations. We look forward to extending our contract with Cambridge for years to come and hope we will continue achieving outstanding outcomes.
If you want to find out more about our services, or how we can help, please do get in touch.
