Best Practice of Benchmarking of World’s Top Universities: Lessons for Higher Educational Institutions of Uzbekistan

Abstract

The significance of the higher education can be seen in terms of assisting the economy with skillful specialists who are considered to be the key force for the development of the country. Higher education is considered to be crucial in modern market-based economies. Particularly, the higher education enables the development and maintenance of the knowledge acquired by the youth. Higher education contributes to the development of the human capital, which can later act as crucial aspect of growth. This paper takes a broad perspective on the importance of higher education, precisely to the structure of Master’s degree programs, in many developed countries of the world including USA, UK and Germany. The paper uses the benchmarking method in order to analyze and apply practices of higher education systems in Uzbekistan. It is important to note that current state of higher education institutions in Uzbekistan reflects the practice of former Soviet Union institutions and needs to adopt strategies that are followed by world’s top universities. The main purpose of this paper is to critically examine the practices and evaluating the higher education system of these countries. The outcomes of the analysis are used to offer a framework for the development of higher education systems precisely in the context of masters programs, in Uzbekistan.