Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The popular Chinese magazine Belt and Road Outlook published an article by the rector of the Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies Gulchekhra Rikhsiyeva under the heading "Cooperation between Uzbekistan and China in the field of higher education and science".

According to the author, the study of the Chinese language and literature, the history and culture of China in Uzbekistan goes back thousands of years and is inextricably linked with the traditional ties of friendship and good neighborliness between the two peoples. The most rapid flowering of multilateral relations fell on the era of the Great Silk Road, the historical centers of which were Tashkent, Jizzakh, Kokand, Samarkand, Bukhara and other cities of Uzbekistan.

The article notes that today the relationship between the two countries in the field of higher education is built on the basis of the Agreement between the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Ministry of Education of the PRC on cooperation in the field of education from 8 November 1999.

It is noted that annually the PRC allocates 60 grant places for a one-year internship in Chinese universities within the framework of interstate cooperation and the cooperation program of the SCO member states. Within the framework of these grants, students and interns go to China not only to study the Chinese language, but also for the purpose of internships, advanced training in various areas of education and sectors of the economy. Along with this, our citizens also have the opportunity to undergo internships on a grant basis at universities in the PRC and through the Confucius Institutes.

Since the establishment of the Confucius Institutes in Uzbekistan, thousands of Uzbeks have been trained in the Chinese language, received certificates for the level of knowledge of the HSK Chinese language, and have become better acquainted with the traditions and customs, culture of China, the newspaper writes.

The number of higher educational institutions in Uzbekistan is also growing, in which Chinese is studied as a first or second foreign language. The basic higher educational institution in the field of Sinology in Uzbekistan and the first university in the Central Asian region that specializes in training Sinologists is the Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies (TSUOS).

The material states that the University has established contacts with a number of Chinese universities. Among them are Shanghai, Lanzhou, Hunan Pedagogical, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Xi’an University of International Studies, etc.

From the 2022-2023 academic year, it is planned to launch a double degree program with the Liaoning Pedagogical University in the city of Dalian in the direction of education "Chinese Philology". This program will be the first double degree program with Chinese universities.

“This year, another significant event in the development of Sinology was the opening of the Uzbek-Chinese Research Center at TSUOS,” the journal emphasizes. - among the priorities of its activity are the preparation of monographs, the study of China’s domestic, foreign policy and economic experience, the role of the Great Silk Road and the prospects for developing cooperation between the two countries, the creation of new generation textbooks, electronic applications, as well as the training of young researchers.

Undoubtedly, the ongoing partnership with universities and organizations of the PRC will improve the training of personnel who are fluent in Chinese and have extensive and deep knowledge in the field of Sinology. And this, in turn, will open up new horizons for cooperation between the two friendly countries, the Belt and Road Outlook concludes.