Uzbekistan joins UNESCO convention on qualifications amid focus on quality
Uzbekistan is set to join the 38 countries already party to the Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications, including France, the UK, Finland, South Africa, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.
As per an announcement during the General Conference of UNESCO in Samarkand earlier this month, the country will become a full participant in the Convention three months after submitting its formal confirmation.
“According to Article 18 of the Convention, accession takes effect three months after a state submits its instrument of accession to the UNESCO Secretariat,” read a statement from the Agency for Assessment of Knowledge and Qualifications.
The agency, which is under the country’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, said the move could pave the way for degrees from countries such as Russia, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan to be recognised in Uzbekistan without the nostrification process.
While Uzbekistan already has a legal framework for evaluating international qualifications — through its Education Law and the 2019 Cabinet Resolution — the regulation also permits recognition of overseas educational documents, without exams or additional checks, when they fall under an international treaty.
According to the work program, there will also be a strong importance in bringing the number of ratifications up from the current 38 State Parties
Stig Arne Skjerven, UNESCO
The development comes as the Convention seeks to expand and strengthen cooperation, with state parties at the second Intergovernmental Conference in Paris (June 2025) adopting operational guidelines for practical implementation and starting work on three new global guidelines.
The state parties agreed to start developing and negotiating guidelines on quality assurance (including transnational education), recognition of refugees’ and displaced persons’ qualifications with pathways, and the relationship between the Global and Regional Recognition Conventions — scheduled for adoption at the third Intergovernmental Conference in June 2027.
With more than 20 additional countries expected to be awaiting ratification into the Convention, the priority now is to determine how states, authorities, universities, and other actors across different countries can collaborate when their educational provisions are not identical, according to Stig Arne Skjerven, elected chair of UNESCO’s Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education for 2023–2027.
“Effective recognition of qualifications is only possible within a framework of mutual trust, underpinned by the credibility, integrity, and robustness of higher education systems,” Skjerven told The PIE News.
“Therefore, credible, and trustworthy quality assurance measures are the enabler and driver for successful recognition of qualifications within and beyond diverse systems.”
The Paris conference placed particular emphasis on quality in TNE and cross-border education, with countries across Asia and Europe approving a record number of TNE partnerships — from branch campuses and joint institutes to dual programs — even as criticism persists around the financial sustainability of such models.
Moreover, in line with the Global Convention, which requires states parties to assess refugees’ and displaced persons’ qualifications even when documentation is incomplete, developing a global guideline on recognising prior learning for displaced populations has become a major priority for the 2027 conference.
This comes as refugee enrolment in higher education remains at just 7% — a stark gap given the global refugee population of 42.7 million and the ‘15by30’ goal of reaching 15% by 2030.
“The upcoming global guideline on recognition of refugees’ and displaced persons’ qualifications will focus on challenges that refugees are having with regards to access to higher education, and propose possible solutions with regards to recognition and admission,” stated Skjerven, who also serves as the senior advisor to Norway’s Directorate for Higher Education and Skills.
“It will showcase best practice including multilateral schemes like UNESCO’s Qualifications Passport and European Qualifications Passport for Refugees (by Council of Europe), and also look at elements to support pathways into higher education for refugees’ and displaced persons.”
The Convention, the first international treaty of its kind, was adopted by UNESCO in 2019 after more than a decade of work — from feasibility studies to drafting and formal negotiations involving all member states — and entered into force in 2023 with an initial group of 20 state parties.
As the number of countries party to the Convention has risen to 38, with Uzbekistan set to become the 39th once its ratification is formalised, extensive consultations will now begin on the texts to be adopted at the June 2027 conference, Skjerven said.
“According to the work program, there will also be a strong importance in bringing the number of ratifications up from the current 38 state parties, development of research papers which may form the bases of future global guidelines, and there are also resources allocated to capacity building for state parties.
“In conclusion, I would argue the ambitions are high, and it aims at having an impact on relevant aspects for mobility and the global eco-system in higher education,” Skjerven added.
With many developing and emerging countries among the state parties, including Armenia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Tunisia, Senegal, Palestine, Yemen, and Mongolia, South Africa, the newest ratifying member, sees the adoption of operational guidelines and the development of new ones as an opportunity to embed best practices in its system for mutual recognition of qualifications.
“South Africa ratified the regional, Addis Convention, in 2019 and has since been applying the principles of providing a fair and transparent process for recognition within our region,” explained Nadia Starr, CEO, South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA).
“We have seen the global ratification as progressive and developmental, applying what we learn at regional level to the global application.”
At a time when South Africa is hosting around 250,000 refugees and asylum seekers, the country views broader African ratification of the Global Convention as a way to “facilitate the exchange of knowledge and skills” in the region.
According to Starr, South Africa, this year’s G20 host and the first on the African continent, is aligning its approach with the presidency theme of solidarity, equality and sustainability to advance regional mobility, while acknowledging the resource constraints facing both the country and the wider region.
“We use existing structures and processes to implement the principles of the conventions, while reflecting on regulation, with reviews currently underway to our NQF, higher education, and skills development legislation in South Africa,” stated Starr.
“There is also a need to drive further awareness and advocacy in the country and region to ensure that recognition is consistently and comprehensively applied.”
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