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A draft regulation governing the state accreditation of educational institutions and private legal entities providing educational services in Uzbekistan has been published on the country’s official portal for public discussion of normative legal documents. The text updates the framework originally approved by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 21 of 10 February 2006.
Under the regulation, accreditation is conducted by the State Inspectorate for Education Quality Control under the Cabinet of Ministers, which bases its decisions on the results of accreditation expert reviews. The process is grounded in Uzbekistan’s Law on Education as well as the requirements set out in the regulation itself.
Core Principles and Timelines
The framework rests on four stated principles: the independence and objectivity of the accreditation system; full openness; transparency; and periodicity — meaning that accredited status is granted for a limited term rather than indefinitely. Educational institutions and their programmes must pass an accreditation expert review once every five years.
Institutions established by decree of the President of Uzbekistan, the Cabinet of Ministers, or local state authorities are considered accredited for a period of up to five years from the date of their establishment. Newly created institutions, however, may not undergo the expert review until a full cycle of student training has been completed and graduates have been produced.
Consequences of Non-Accreditation
The regulation draws a clear distinction between holding a licence and holding accredited status. Licensed private educational institutions and private legal entities providing educational services that have not yet obtained accreditation may not issue graduates with state-recognised qualification documents directly. Their graduates may receive such documents only after sitting examinations under the relevant programmes of an accredited institution.
Where a higher education institution has branches or postgraduate programmes, their accreditation expert reviews are conducted simultaneously with the review of the parent institution’s core educational activities, avoiding duplicative or staggered processes.
The external assessment of educational institutions’ activities is organised by the State Inspectorate, which serves as the central authority across all stages of the accreditation cycle.