Azimjon Khusanov
Azimjon Khusanov, the founder of RIKS Education, says partnering with the British Council has opened doors for local cooperation and has taken his business to the next level.
An alumnus of the Faculty of International Business at the National University of Uzbekistan, Azimjon Khusanov has worked in private and public education for more than 15 years. Azimjon opened RIKS Education in 2007, and today it is one of the most prestigious educational centres in Uzbekistan, with more than 2,000 students. Khusanov is especially proud that RIKS has continued operations despite the difficulties of COVID-19.
He believes that continuous self-education is the key to professional success and has himself completed a number of short-term and advanced-training courses abroad, including at Oxford University.
“Oxford has a reputation of being impossible to get into, but my experience is that, if you sincerely want to learn and improve, then you can achieve anything,” he says.
The economic and social opening of Uzbekistan since 2016 has created new opportunities for international cooperation between foreign organisations and the Uzbek private sector. Educational reforms and new support for foreign-language programmes have allowed for the British Council’s successful launch of the IELTS Partnership in Uzbekistan.
RIKS Education was one of the first training centres in Tashkent and this year celebrates six years as a successful British Council partner. It is also the only Gold-tier training centre in Uzbekistan.
“As an authorised partner of the British Council, we provide detailed information on the IELTS exam, both to our student body and the wider community. We are happy to offer help if someone has difficulty in registering for the test – for example, we’ve worked with students who had never used email before,” says Khusanov.
In 2019, RIKS became an English UK Partner Agency and, in 2020, the centre was certified as a Quality English Associate School. The same year, it also won the Premier Agency Business Award, which recognises international agencies for ethical practice, quality, and dedication to their students.
“We could not have achieved this success without the help and support of the British Council. Our partnership has boosted our reputation immensely and helped us grow,” says Khusanov. “During the six years we’ve partnered with the British Council, I have realised that quality and results are more important than quantity.”
In 2021, Azimjon Khusanov was named Deputy Director of the newly established Agency for Promotion of Learning Foreign Languages under the Cabinet of Ministers, set up to promote effective foreign-language teaching methods and materials across 10 languages. The agency’s current focus is to attract more international companies to popularise the study of foreign languages.
The RIKS Education team congratulates the British Council on its 25th anniversary in Uzbekistan and looks forward to continued fruitful cooperation.
“We are proud of our partnership with the British Council,” says Khusanov. “It continues to help us improve our services and take our business and students to the next level.”