The English for Academics programme is developed in partnership between the Ministry of higher and secondary specialised education of the republic of Uzbekistan and the British Council to support the process of educational reform in Uzbekistan and to contribute to the implementation of the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan On further Development of the Education System dated April 20, 2017.
The overall aim of the programme is to equip academics in higher education with skills to enable them to collaborate with their peers internationally around education and research agendas and benefit from further professional development opportunities including short term courses, Master’s and PhD programmes overseas.
The programme is referenced to the CEFR and Uzbekistan National Standards for Foreign Language teaching and is based on the needs analyses conducted among 300 potential participants of the Programme and focus groups with selected participants.
The programme consists of three modules:
- the initial three-week face-to-face module
- twenty-week supported open learning module
- final week of face to face module to consolidate the experience.
The new programme offers a wide range of cutting edge print and online resources for language learning and professional development, training in strategies for language learning and examinations and promoted development of learner autonomy. Drawing on advances of education technology and e-learning and to support the Programme a dedicated platform was developed by the Ministry of higher and secondary education of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The Programme’s blended learning approach is ideally suited to busy education professionals who need to develop both professionally and personally in order to meet 21st century challenges in their field.
The following stages were undertaken while implementing the project:
- the trainer training event was conducted in June 2017
- the participants were selected based on the British Council's diagnostic test results (APTIS)
- the first module for the two cohorts of participants for two levels - A2+ and B1+ was launched in August 2017. The courses were coordinated by the project partner - Head scientific and methodological center for professional development of academic and executive staff in Higher education in 22 universities (hubs) in Uzbekistan
- the second online module was run between September and December 2017. Learning was facilitated and supported by national expert professionals who offered professional advice and direct training to ensure that members derived maximum benefit from their period of study
- the third module of the programme was conducted in December 2017. All participants who successfully completed the course were awarded with the certificates.