导语：Innovation and Ideas Instead of Resources: How Uzbekistan’s Youth Are Shaping the Country’s Global Image
Innovation and Ideas Instead of Resources: How Uzbekistan’s Youth Are Shaping the Country’s Global Image
Gulnoza Ismailova,
Executive Director of the “El-Yurt Umidi” Foundation for the Training of Prospective Personnel under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan
Today, when discussions turn to the long-term development of nations, references to oil, gas, or gold are increasingly giving way to another category — human capital. In Uzbekistan, this concept is no longer treated as an abstraction but as the core driver of reform and the principal source of growth.
Under the leadership of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Uzbekistan has made a deliberate choice to prioritize this resource, building a system in which education and professional training are viewed as strategic investments. The state is creating new social elevators, ensuring that young people can fully realize their creative, educational, and economic potential at home.
The Education Boom
The country is experiencing a genuine educational boom. The number of kindergartens has increased eightfold, reaching nearly 38,000, with non-state kindergartens rising from just 250 to 29,000. Preschool enrollment has grown from 27% to 76%.
Enrollment in higher education has more than quadrupled, from 9% to 42%. Over the past seven years, the number of master’s students has increased sevenfold — and among women, elevenfold. Tuition fees are increasingly covered by state subsidies, making higher education more accessible.
Language education has also expanded: more than two million young people are studying foreign languages. The number of students earning high IELTS scores has grown fivefold, from 10,000 in 2020 to 53,000 in 2024, enabling better integration into the global academic system.
The Role of the “El-Yurt Umidi” Foundation
The focus on human capital carries an explicit political dimension. In Uzbekistan, there is a clear recognition that without globally competitive specialists it will be impossible to build a sustainable economy or manage effective international partnerships.
President Mirziyoyev has repeatedly emphasized that “youth are Uzbekistan’s greatest wealth”. Unlike natural resources, this capital, if properly invested, does not deplete — it multiplies. This is particularly significant given that one-quarter of Uzbekistan’s population — 9.6 million people — are young people aged 14 to 30.
The “El-Yurt Umidi” Foundation for the Training of Prospective Personnel under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan (EYUF) has become one of the most important mechanisms for translating this vision into practice.
If in the previous 25 years only about 800 students were sent abroad on state funding, then in just the last seven years alone, more than 2,300 young Uzbeks have received the opportunity to study at leading global universities through EYUF scholarships.
This is not merely a statistic — it is evidence of political will. In a country simultaneously reforming its judiciary, agriculture, digital economy, and healthcare, investing hundreds of millions of dollars in overseas education for young professionals represents a deliberate long-term strategy.
If the early years focused chiefly on scholarships, the Foundation now acts as a lever for systemic change. New directions include attracting foreign professors with high h-indices for joint research; launching joint degree programs with universities ranked in the global top 300; supporting the opening of international university branches in Uzbekistan; expanding internships and research placements for young specialists and civil servants; and financing the education of foreign students in Uzbek universities as a form of academic diplomacy. In short, the Foundation is becoming a channel for the country’s integration into the global educational ecosystem.
Particular emphasis is placed on procedural transparency. The 2025 competition was the first in which all stages — from testing to interviews —were conducted with maximal openness. The result is striking: nearly 70% of the winners secured admission to top-100 universities worldwide, among them Cambridge, Seoul National University, New York University, the University of Hong Kong, the University of Pennsylvania, Duke, and others.
This is a significant political signal: the priority is quality over quantity. By demonstrating that scholarships go to the most capable, the authorities strengthen public trust in the institution.
The program is already yielding tangible results: hundreds of students are enrolled in prestigious universities. Young Uzbeks are entering the global arena with innovative projects in technology, medicine, culture, and education. They are becoming agents of change — introducing new methods in universities, advancing the digitalization of public services, and launching social initiatives.
Investing in People
For Uzbekistan, overseas study is not simply education policy; it is a pillar of national strategy. In the context of the “Uzbekistan–2030” program and aspirations to join the ranks of dynamic economies, prioritizing youth is logical.
This is also consistent with global trends. According to the World Economic Forum, over 70% of future professions will require technological and interdisciplinary skills. Countries that fail to prepare their own specialists risk being relegated to the periphery of the global economy.
This is why President Mirziyoyev has said that Uzbekistan’s “Third Renaissance” will begin with education.
Where many post-Soviet states have faced chronic brain drain, Uzbekistan is attempting an alternative model: knowledge circulation.
The Foundation is building robust ties with key ministries and agencies. Public bodies not only participate in selecting scholars; they also proactively recruit them. A unified digital database of graduates is being created to track study progress, academic performance, and job placement.
Support does not end with graduation. Particular attention is paid to returning scholars and their professional integration. The Foundation assists with employment, helps identify roles where overseas skills are needed, and works with organizations to ensure appropriate conditions, career paths, and professional growth.
Importantly, integration into professional networks begins during study. For example, this year scholars in the United States and the United Kingdom undertook internships at IT Park Uzbekistan, gaining practical experience in startups, venture capital, and digital technologies. This helps them maintain ties with national realities and prepare for professional activity in Uzbekistan even while abroad.
An infrastructure is taking shape in which returning home is a logical and attractive choice. Graduates are considered not simply as scholarship recipients but as carriers of new knowledge, drivers of change, and active participants in the country’s modernization.
Success Stories
Scholarship programs are rarely assessed through a diplomatic lens. Yet in Uzbekistan’s case, individual success stories are helping to shape a new national image. Every stage performance, scientific breakthrough, or social project becomes an instrument of soft power. Uzbek students abroad demonstrate that their homeland is not only rich in history but also a dynamic society open to innovation.
Sabina Nabiyeva — the first Uzbek woman to compete at the world’s largest hackathon in San Francisco — won an Anita Borg Grant within the Grace Hopper Celebration and became a Google Women Techmakers ambassador. More recently, she earned further distinctions, including the WISP MAD20 Scholarship, the SANS Security Training Scholarship, and selection for the WiCyS Professional Mentorship and Cyber Pathway Mentorship programs. For international audiences, these achievements are more than personal milestones; they signal Uzbekistan’s active cultivation of female leadership in high-tech fields—an increasingly important form of diplomatic capital in an era when IT is a global arena of competition.
Orzugul Goyibova has launched two initiatives: Top 100 Uni, which helps Uzbek youth gain admission to elite global universities, and Porla, aimed at expanding educational opportunities for women and girls. Such projects illustrate how EYUF supports not only professionals but also social entrepreneurs who catalyze institutional change. They address questions of equality and inclusion that stand at the center of the global agenda.
In the cultural sphere, Mumtazbegim Ochilova, a student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, debuted at the renowned Lamplighters Theater. Her achievement signals that Uzbekistan is nurturing a globally competitive cultural elite, with music serving as a powerful language of diplomacy.
Ulugbek Yakhshimurodov, a doctoral candidate at Osaka University, secured a Japanese patent for his invention, “A Method for Producing M2 Macrophages, M2 Macrophages Obtained by the Method, and Their Applications.” Given that cardiovascular diseases — myocardial infarction, cardiomyopathies, heart failure, arrhythmia s— remain among the leading causes of early mortality and disability worldwide, the method’s efficiency and broad applicability hold promise for new therapeutic strategies not only in cardiology but beyond.
Bobur Turaev, an EYUF scholar and pediatric cardiac surgeon at the Tashkent Pediatric Medical Institute, successfully performed a pioneering operation in Uzbekistan: removing a damaged tricuspid valve in a six-year-old and fashioning a new valve from the right atrial auricle. Until now, procedures of this complexity had been carried out only in the most advanced medical centers worldwide.
Together, these cases demonstrate that young Uzbeks are not only integrating into the world’s most advanced academic and scientific environments but are also positioning their country as an emerging source of innovation and talent.
Lessons from Abroad
In the 1960s–70s, Singapore was a small developing state with few natural resources. Lee Kuan Yew’s team made education the principal instrument of modernization. Thousands of students were sent to the UK, the US, and Australia to train in engineering, medicine, and public administration. They returned to build infrastructure, reform healthcare, and create a modern civil service. The parallel with Uzbekistan is clear: amid similar constraints — limited resources and the need for rapid modernization — the state is betting on human capital.
South Korea offers another instructive example. In the 1960s, its economy was comparable to those of some African nations. Systemic investments in education and science were pivotal, notably the creation of KAIST with US support. Large cohorts were trained at MIT, Stanford, and the University of Tokyo; upon return, they underpinned industrialization — from autos to electronics. For Uzbekistan, the key lesson is that overseas study should not be an end in itself, but integrated into a national strategy of industrialization and innovation.
In the 1980s–90s, China struggled with students who did not return. Over time, the state built incentives — career pathways, research funding, and domestic world-class universities. Today, China both retains talent and weaves it into a global network.
Uzbekistan’s path reflects these precedents: like Singapore, it emphasizes the quality of cadres; like South Korea, it ties education to modernization; like Japan, it leverages foreign expertise for accelerated reform; like China, it constructs systems for return and integration.
The Collective Effect
Scholarship and internship programs have become one of the principal instruments in shaping a new intellectual and cultural elite capable of moving Uzbekistan closer to the ranks of developed nations.
Young professionals are building bridges between Uzbekistan and global centers of science, economy, and culture. Modern universities have long since evolved into nodes of global networks. Harvard, Cambridge, Seoul National University, or the University of Tokyo are not merely educational institutions; they are part of the infrastructure of global diplomacy.
The presence of Uzbek students in these institutions signifies the country’s entry into global intellectual circles. Within them, connections are formed that often prove more durable and effective than official diplomatic channels.
A scholar working in a biomedical research group or participating in an IT startup becomes a conduit for their country’s interests — even without a diplomatic passport. Yet the impact of the program extends far beyond national policy. These scholars serve as informal diplomats, projecting the image of a new Uzbekistan.
Every patent, every publication, every artistic debut sends a signal to international audiences. Together, these stories form an alternative narrative of Uzbekistan: a country not only with a rich past but also with ambitious aspirations for the future.
Uzbekistan has chosen a path validated by successful precedents elsewhere, yet carefully adapted to its own context. That is why education is no longer seen as a purely social sphere but as the new language of the country’s diplomacy. Through it, Uzbekistan asserts itself on the world stage as a state whose greatest wealth lies not in natural resources, but in its youth and their ideas.