Training diplomats, lawyers and public leaders for peaceful, just and accountable institutions

UWED’s highest governing body is the Academic Council. Its membership is not limited to the Rector, vice-rectors and deans. Under the Academic Council Charter, undergraduate and graduate students, academic staff and non-academic staff each have representatives who are elected through their own bodies rather than appointed by the administration.

This means that the people who study and work at UWED take part in the decisions that shape it. In 2025 the Academic Council decided to set up the university’s Sustainable Development Goals Center (SDG HUB) on 18 April 2025, and approved the allocation of state education grants for the 2025/26 academic year (Minutes No. 8, 18 April 2025).

Students at UWED are represented by the Student Council. It works with the university leadership but is run by students, and in 2025 UWED’s student bodies were active in all three roles a union plays: a voice in governance, support for students, and social life.

Governance input. On 24 December 2025 the Youth Union, together with the Youth Affairs Office and the university psychologist, held an open dialogue on inclusive education, where students brought their problems, suggestions and complaints directly to the people responsible. In February 2025 the Youth Union leader briefed visitors from the UN Youth Office on the union’s work and on youth policy in Uzbekistan.

Support for students. During Orientation Week on 9 September 2025 the Student Council met first-year students together with the university psychologist and course curators to help them settle in.

Social activities. The Youth Union presented its work to applicants at the Open Day on 30 May 2025, signed a memorandum with the Moroccan-Chinese Youth League in February, and on 26 October 2025 organised a charity visit to children at the Republican Center of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Clinical Immunology.

The Provisions of the UWED Advisory (Supervisory) Board set out who UWED’s external stakeholders are and how the university works with them: ministries and agencies, employers, public organisations, sponsors and alumni.

In 2025 this engagement happened in practice. On 21 May the Faculty of International Law held a Career Day with more than 50 organisations, including the Ministry of Justice, the Civil Service Development Agency, two departments of the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies. From 26 to 28 November the UWED Career Fair 2025 brought employers from Uzbekistan and the wider region onto campus.

UWED also works with the mahallas (neighbourhood communities) of the Mirzo-Ulugbek district that are assigned to it. On 13 August 2025 a university working group led by the First Vice-Rector met the leaders of the “Uygonish” mahalla and agreed a plan of legal literacy seminars, counselling and training for local young people. In October the university reviewed its cooperation with the “Yangi Olmachi” mahalla and agreed regular meetings with residents and parents.

The Advisory (Supervisory) Board is the main body through which outside stakeholders take part in UWED’s decisions. On 10 April 2025 it approved the 2024 financial results and the 2025 financial plan, with cost optimisation and stronger digital control. On 18 July it set payment terms for international students and the new Management master’s programme with MERI Group. On 13 September it approved measures to improve the work of faculties and key departments. In August the Board also approved tuition fees for 2025/26, and the university published both the new fees and the reasons behind them.

Local residents take part through the mahalla citizens’ assemblies. On 13 November 2025 UWED staff met residents of “Yangi Olmachi”, answered their questions and agreed further joint work. On 21 November law lecturers held a roundtable on mediation with the “Oltintepa” assembly and local council members, and on 5 December professors met “Humoyun” mahalla leaders and residents for Constitution Day. In July the UWED Legal Clinic held an open day with residents of eight mahallas, and in August an open dialogue on free legal aid for people in need of social protection.

UWED publishes the Regulations On The Internal Anti-Corruption Control System — 2025. Chapter 3 of the Code of Ethics (2025), “Anti-Corruption”, requires every professor, employee and student to reject any form of corruption, to help prevent it, and to follow the University Anti-Corruption Program and the rules for reporting attempts to induce corruption. The Code also sets up an Ethics Commission and public oversight of its application.

In 2025 the university turned these rules into practice. From 24 to 26 June a UWED lecturer and four law students took part in a Summer School on “Fostering a Culture of Integrity in Governance”, supported by the Anti-Corruption Agency, UNDP and the EU Delegation. In November and December, during Anti-Corruption Month and UWED Integrity Week, course coordinators in all faculties held sessions explaining the laws “On Combating Corruption” and “On Conflict of Interest”. Students proposed creating an “Anti-Corruption Volunteers” movement at the university.

UWED also applies these principles to its own hiring. For the recruitment of course coordinators in autumn 2025, a competition commission met four times, interviewed 36 candidates and published the vacancies, criteria and results on the university website.

UWED’s Academic Freedom Policy guarantees freedom of research and freedom of teaching. It applies equally to senior and junior academics, so early-career lecturers have the same protection as professors.

In practice, UWED academics present and debate their work openly, both at home and abroad. In 2025 a professor of international law lectured on Central Asia at Stanford University, a professor of political science spoke at the UN-supported international conference on combating violence against women, and faculty members took part in public conferences on international law, the Constitution and the United Nations hosted at UWED.

UWED publishes an annual Financial Report. The Financial Report 2025 covers revenue by faculty, institutional income and spending by funding stream and by category, including salaries, social contributions, goods and services, equipment and student support.

UWED provides evidence and expert advice directly to the bodies that write Uzbekistan’s laws.

Administrative justice reform. On 24 October 2025 UWED’s Center for Public Law hosted a roundtable to support the Interdepartmental Commission on Improving Legislation on Administrative Proceedings, which is drafting a new Code of Administrative Proceedings under Presidential Decree No. PP-33 of 30 January 2025. Judges of the Supreme Court, Commission members and the Academy of Justice reviewed gaps in the draft. UWED presented a reference and methodological guide, “Reform of Administrative Proceedings in Uzbekistan in Light of Contemporary Legal Doctrine”, prepared for the Commission.

WTO accession. On 26 March 2025 UWED’s WTO project and the Legislative Chamber’s Commission for Harmonization of Legislation with WTO Agreements held a joint conference on the legal and institutional reforms needed to join the WTO. Members of parliament, the national WTO accession working group and the President’s Special Representative on WTO Issues took part.

Constitutional legislation. At its 5 December 2025 conference on the Constitution and the SDGs, UWED worked with international and national experts to prepare recommendations for improving constitutional legislation.

Much of this work runs through the Diplomatic Academy at UWED, which offers short professional development and retraining courses for staff of ministries, state agencies and organisations, including courses designed on request.

Economics for public officials. On 17 June 2025 UWED professors led a training session for central and regional staff of the Ministry of Sports on the ministry’s role in meeting national export targets, with the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade.

Diplomatic skills for the public sector. From 7 to 11 July 2025 the Diplomatic Academy ran a free five-day retraining course for staff of “Uztextreyd”, a state enterprise under the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade, covering diplomatic protocol, official correspondence and negotiation.

Training foreign diplomats. From 11 to 15 May 2025 the Academy trained young diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Oman. Certificates were presented by the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan and the First Deputy Chairman of the Senate. In March the Academy agreed a joint roadmap with the Diplomatic Academy of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs on training diplomats.

Labour migration to East Asia. Throughout 2025 UWED’s Institute for Advanced International Studies (IAIS) ran a policy research project, “Contextualizing Central Asian Migration to East Asia: Comparative Analysis of Uzbek Migration to South Korea and Japan”, with the Korea Foundation. The project was led by Professor Timur Dadabaev, Vice-Rector for Science and Innovations. It was carried out with the government bodies responsible for labour migration and the diaspora: the Ministry of Employment and Poverty Reduction and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The team mapped how these agencies manage migration, interviewed migrants in both countries and compared the two host countries’ policies. Its findings will go to Uzbek government stakeholders as an analytical report with policy recommendations.

History of Uzbek diplomacy. On 21 August 2025 UWED convened the authors of the monograph “History of Diplomacy of New Uzbekistan (2017–2025)”, led by the Rector and attended by the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the International Institute for Central Asia and IAIS. They agreed the book’s structure, chapters and timeline.

UWED does not take political sides, so it can bring people with different views together to discuss difficult questions openly.

On 22 April 2025 the international conference on Actual Issues of International Law brought together the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Higher School of Strategic Analysis and Forecasting, experts from the Organization of Turkic States and lawyers from several countries. They discussed sensitive topics such as AI and human rights. On 29 October the conference marking the 80th anniversary of the UN gathered UNDP, both chambers of parliament, the National Centre for Human Rights, the Ombudsman and several ministries to debate UN reform.

On 18–19 November UWED’s THINK ROAD FORUM 2025 brought policymakers, diplomats, academics and civil society from Central Asia and beyond together to discuss regional development. On 20 November a Policy & Science Dialogue on water diplomacy offered a frank, evidence-based discussion of transboundary water management. On 5 December a conference on the Constitution and the SDGs brought together OHCHR, UNDP, IOM and the OSCE Academy.

Legal education at UWED combines theory with practice. On 24 March 2025 law students worked in the investigative training ground and forensic laboratory of the Law Enforcement Academy. On 21 May the faculty’s Career Day connected them with the Ministry of Justice, the Prosecutor General’s Office and more than 50 other employers. Through the UWED Legal Clinic, students give free legal advice to residents and people in need of social protection.

On 23 July 2025 the graduates received their diplomas in a ceremony attended by the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and representatives of government agencies and the diplomatic corps.