Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Nowadays, human development concept in Uzbekistan is gaining its significant importance. The human development concept puts a human being at the center of development. The key essence of the concept is to provide people with wide range of opportunities, expanding their capabilities and freedoms, which promotes healthy life-style, ensures access to knowledge and decent standard of living, as well as stimulates active participation of people as full members of society in decision making process, which impacts a well-being of all of us.

The five day-long seminar “Human Development: Specifics of Teaching Human Development, Innovative Measurements and its Practical Application in Attaining Millennium Development Goals ” conducted by UNDP and University of World Economy and Diplomacy (UWED) provided academic staff of higher educational institutions with basic principles of human development concept, new indicators and methods of measurements and specifics of attaining Millennium Development Goals at a national level.

More than 60 representatives of 16 higher educational institutions and educational establishments of Uzbekistan participated in the seminar, which has also intended to share and exchange of existing experience as well as propose recommendations on introducing “Human Development” course into academic curricula.

Uzbekistan is one of the active advocates of promoting and practical application of human development concept in educational sphere. Since beginning of 2007-2008 academic year, the University of World Economy and Diplomacy introduced into academic curricula a “Human Development” course for all specializations of graduate studies.

In 2010-2011 academic year, a special course “Innovative Models of Socio-Economic Development” became a part of academic curricula for the fourth year undergraduate students of the faculty of “International Economic Relations at UWED.

“This seminar is just well-timed and jointly initiated with UWED. In the course of less than of 5 years, a unique fundamental methodological base in the area of teaching human development discipline was established in Uzbekistan, which takes into account specifics and particularities of the country’s development. And now the time has come to discuss gained experience, reveal issues and consider perspectives of introducing academic porogrammes in curricula of higher educational establishments”, said Elena Danilova-Cross, UNDP Human Development Coordinator in Uzbekistan.

The seminar programme has also included thematic lectures on new indicators and methods of measurement of human development indexes, gender factors and demographic tendencies of the modern world. In addition, the seminar enabled participants to practically review statistical base including regions of Uzbekistan with a purpose of monitoring Millennium Development Goals and specifics of composing human development indexes.

In the course of the seminar, it was noted that the concept of human development is an essential model of development, which remains in the process of formation as the concept has a number of disputable matters related to methods of human development measurement as well as it requires apply of several innovations to modify measurement methods. And these all could be reflected in the framework of preparation of national human development reports published by UNDP.