In Samarkand and Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the U.S.-Central Asia University Partnerships Program (UniCEN) hosted two capacity-building workshops for university administrators, researchers, and faculty members from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. The key objectives of these workshops were to enhance the research capacity of Central Asian faculties and to promote interdisciplinary and regional cooperation.
The agenda of these intensive workshops combined presentations, interactive skills-development exercises, and group presentations. The topics selected for the program equipped participants with the knowledge and practical skills necessary for successful research collaborations and highly rated academic publications. The trainers discussed and provided insights to the participants on finding a powerful research story, carving out a manuscript from their research work, and presenting data most efficiently. The team of experts elaborated on the issues of academic honesty and research ethics and navigated the participants through the nuances and pitfalls of getting published in international journals. The program culminated in group presentations in which they demonstrated their two-minute "elevator pitches" to provide a powerful presentation of their research topic to a target audience.
To lead the interregional workshops, American Councils invited two prominent U.S. experts and UniCEN alumni: Professor Khanjan Mehta, Vice Provost for Creative Inquiry and Director of the Mountaintop Initiative at Lehigh University, and Dr. Jay Turner, Head of the Division of Engineering Education at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Hamid Shahbazkia, Professor at Westminster International University in Tashkent, co-led the workshops, and Dr. Rauf Salahodjaev, Professor at Tashkent State Economics University and AKFA University, facilitated group discussions.
In their post-program surveys, the overwhelming majority of participants noted they had left the workshop better prepared to collect and analyze data for their research, developed a better understanding of how to find the right journal for their publications, and were more confident collaborating with colleagues from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. UniCEN will continue its program of capacity-building workshops for Central Asian partners with a workshop in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
The Central Asia University Partnership Program (UniCEN), funded by the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent and administered by American Councils for International Education, strengthens capacities of U.S. and Central Asian university administrators and faculty to jointly address global challenges. Through over 75 partnership grants, UniCEN partners at U.S. and Central Asian universities have collaborated since 2018 to modernize curricula, co-develop jointly taught courses, and conduct research with economic impact. For more information click here.