The power of transnational education: reflecting on 20 years of partnership

The university was established in 2002 by the University of Westminster and the Foundation of the President of Uzbekistan, as the first international university located in the heart of Central Asia offering an education leading to UK degree qualifications.

Starting with an initial cohort of 120 students studying in an International Foundation programme, WIUT now has a student population of over 5,000. WIUT offers foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate taught courses. Subject disciplines include business, economics, finance, computing, and law alongside a number of specialist masters programmes. All programmes offered reflect the market and training needs of Uzbekistan; for example, an MSc in Public Health Science was introduced during the pandemic at the direct request of the Government of Uzbekistan to respond to needs in this important sector.

While the two institutions share the name ‘Westminster’, WIUT is a completely independent Uzbek higher education institution, and is in no sense a branch campus. All programmes are validated by the University of Westminster, which oversees all aspects of quality assurance, including the appointment of external examiners, but teaching is directly undertaken by staff employed and managed by WIUT.

After twenty years there are more than 5,000 alumni who have graduated from WIUT with accredited University of Westminster degrees, many of whom have taken up leading positions throughout Uzbekistan, and across the Central Asian region, in both the public and private sectors.

The partnership between Westminster and WIUT has roots which go beyond the delivery of programmes, including contributing to wider policy discussions within Uzbekistan. Over time, research links between the two institutions have developed leading to the establishment of a journal and jointly-hosted international conferences.  The most recent “Towards an Inclusive University – Widening access in Uzbekistan” conference was jointly hosted by the two universities, along with the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialised Education and the British Council, and has led to both universities being invited to participate in a working group focusing on inclusive education in higher education in Uzbekistan.

There are also opportunities for staff and student exchanges between the two institutions. Colleagues from WIUT and Westminster regularly travel to London or Tashkent to contribute to the annual Teaching and Learning Symposia. May of 2022 also saw the first group of students from Westminster travel to Tashkent since the start of the pandemic to take part in a jointly-organised Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)-related summer school alongside fellow students from WIUT. The pandemic has only enhanced the relationship and increased the number of activities delivered online including joint alumni events and entrepreneurship demo days. 

Both universities also continue to work together to develop short courses which address the training needs in Uzbekistan and have organised programmes in areas including finance and public health and hope to expand this into other areas including management and education.

As we look towards the next 20 years of the partnership and beyond, we look forward to continuing to work together to develop opportunities for training, staff and student mobility, and research opportunities.