UZBEKISTAN OFFICE

On 10 January 2023, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) Office in Uzbekistan and the Tashkent University of Information Technologies named after Muhammad al-Khwarizmi (TUIT) signed Record of discussion to start a new Project for Establishing an Innovative Business IT Education Ecosystem at the Tashkent University of Information Technologies for Better Higher Education in Uzbekistan.

The delegation led by B. Makhkamov, rector of Tashkent University of Information Technologies named after Muhammad al-Khwarizmi, Mrs. Park Sunjin, director of KOICA office in Uzbekistan, and Kim Byoung-joon, vice-rector of KOOKMIN University, took part in the meeting.

The cost of this project is 5 million US dollars and will be implemented for 5 years (2022-2027). The main goal of the project is to strengthen the potential of higher education in Uzbekistan and to train young talents for the digital economy, as well as to bring the integration of education and production to a new level.

To achieve this goal, the following activities are going to be carried out at the University:

• Development of human capital in the field due to the opening of the "Global IT-Business" educational program in TUIT in cooperation with KUKMIN University;

• Creation of a production zone "Fab Lab" in order to revitalize start-ups and IT solutions for the development of education and production integration;

• Improvement of the IT startup ecosystem, which provides for the integration of education and production;

• To support students to develop prototypes and commercialize their innovations based on the "idea-to-market" principle, to establish a production area of 700 square meters.