Chapter I introduction to higher education system

Progression of Students
During an academic year, there are several interim assessments undertaken for the Bachelor and Master students regarding each academic subject taught during the semester. A rating system (minimum – 56 points, maximum - 100 points) was introduced in 1999 for all types of public HEIs in Uzbekistan. The
system provides the assessment of the students’ knowledge at the end of each semester. The following rating scheme is applied: excellent (86-100); good (71-85); satisfactory (56-70); for less than 55 the subject is considered to be insufficiently mastered by a student.
The decision about the transfer of the successful students to the next year of the educational programme is based on the assessment results. It is impossible to be transferred to the next year if at least one subject was failed. To complete the education at all types of HEIs, the graduates have to take the compulsory final state examinations with participation of the employers who have an opportunity to
assess the relevance and quality of the curricula. To complete a Bachelor programme, the students also have to defend their final qualification work. Master students have to prepare and defend their dissertations.
Employability
Building the capacity of the university staff to provide effective employment assistance for the university graduates and develop their entrepreneurship skills is an important issue for all Uzbek HEIs and so they establish close relationships with the potential employers. Every HEI of Uzbekistan has a marketing department, which provides guidance and organises employment seminars, job fairs, provides consulting and offers internships.
The regulation on the higher education12 contains a number of paragraphs related to the employment of the graduates and the job placement of the students. Paragraph 9 states that one of the tasks of the higher education institution is a "monitoring of quality of education and personnel training, conducting marketing researches and monitoring of profession-based job placement". Paragraph 6 states that "employment of the persons who obtained higher education on state grants basis is made with regard to the interests of society and civil rights of graduates".
Although there is no legal obligation to find employment for all graduates, the Higher Education system of Uzbekistan provides assistance in finding jobs to as many graduates as possible. In this regard, a HEI organises regular meetings and activities with participation of potential employers, ensures participation of employers during final examination, as well as organises job fairs together with local authorities. HEIs collect data on the employment of graduates and annually report them to the Ministry.
According to the SES, a Bachelor programme graduate should be trained to be able to:
• work independently according to his/her specialization on positions subject to replacement by individuals with higher education;
• continue higher education on Master level with a selected speciality corresponding to the Bachelor field;
• obtain additional vocational education in the system for retraining and upgrading the qualifications of personnel.