Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
URUMQI, May 16 (Xinhua) — We regard China as a strategic partner in building a complementary and innovative educational ecosystem in Central Asia, said Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation of the Republic of Uzbekistan Kongratbay Sharipov in an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency.
Kongratbay Sharipov arrived in China to participate in the First Meeting of Education Ministers “China-Central Asia”, which was held in the city of Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region /Northwest China/.
According to K. Sharipov, this event made an exceptionally positive impression on him – both in terms of the level of organization and the substantive content of the meeting. He called the meeting an important platform that contributes to the deepening of strategic partnership and mutually beneficial cooperation between China and the Central Asian countries in the field of education, science and innovation.
“Uzbekistan is interested in expanding bilateral and multilateral projects with the participation of leading Chinese universities and research institutes, including the creation of joint scientific laboratories, educational programs, student and teacher exchanges, as well as the implementation of digital and engineering initiatives,” he said.
The Minister noted: “In the field of higher and professional education, we strive to actively borrow Chinese experience in introducing dual education, training personnel for priority industries, as well as integrating science, production and education.”
“We are particularly interested in Chinese experience in such areas as the development of innovative universities, technology transfer, university science management and commercialization of scientific developments, development of professional colleges and institutes. We are also interested in the development of startup ecosystems, incubators, science and technology parks based on universities, as well as in a deeper integration of the educational process with the needs of the economy,” he said.
K. Sharipov added that Uzbekistan welcomes the development of joint educational institutions, double degree programs, as well as the study of the Uzbek language and Central Asian regions in China.
“I am convinced that our efforts aimed at forming sustainable, institutional mechanisms of cooperation will allow us to take the educational and scientific partnership between Uzbekistan and China to a new, strategic level,” K. Shapirov summed up.
Let us recall that at the said meeting a number of memorandums and agreements were signed between educational institutions of the participating countries, including a memorandum on the joint creation of a research center for the mutual study of the civilizations of China and Uzbekistan. -0-