The opening of Profesional Development Centre at TIIAME within international project
On February 10, 2020 at Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers (TIIAME) with the support of British Council there was organized the opening ceremony of Professional Development Centre and an international workshop within the English as a Medium Instruction international project. The opening ceremony was started with the introductory words by the rector of TIIAME Prof.U.Umurzakov. In his welcoming speech he gave brief information about the purpose of opening the Professional Development Centre at TIIAME and about the role of British Council in achieving tremendous success in the improvement of English language teaching in Uzbekistan. Rector also informed that all projects of British Council meet the requirements of our national reforms and that the implementation of the gained experience from projects would contribute to the increase of quality education in Higher Educational Institutions. TIIAME. The vice-rector on academic affairs Prof.B.Mirzaev, as the coordinator of English as a Medium Instruction international project mentioned about the importance of English in designing EMI material development for different discipline teachers and students of the Institute. He expressed his gratitude to British Council for the support in opening a new Professional Development Centre at TIIAME.
After the rector’s speech he introduced the guests and participants of the project. Deputy minister of the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan Prof.U.Begimkulov, Director of British Council Rachel Ireland, UK consultants Rod Bolitho and Jason Skeet from Norwich Institute for Language Education and 16 EMI project coordinators and 70 participants from 16 Higher Educational Institutions participated in the opening
cere
mony and workshop.
The English as a Medium Instruction project was established to assist EMI teachers in their professional development and provide opportunities for the implementation of foreign experience in the education sphere of Uzbekistan. countries. The main objectives of the project are to improve teaching materials based on international experience in curriculum development, as well as consultation meetings, webinars and workshops with UK project experts. Project participants joined the forum at https://mycourses.nile.elt.com/ platform by Norwich Institute for Language Education.
According to the agenda before the opening ceremony director of British Council Rachel Ireland, UK consultants Rod Bolitho and Jason Skeet made a speech about the important event at TIIAME. They congratulated TIIAME staff with opening Professional Development Centre and suggested about active participation of TIIAME in international projects such especially in projects by British Council. Then rector of TIIAME Prof.U.Umurzakov announced about the opening of Professional Development Centre and with the director of British Council Rachel Ireland they cut the ribbon before the entrance of the Centre. The rector invited all guests to the Professional Development Centre and all participants had an opportunity to have a look inside the Centre. All guests were surprised for the provision of all facilities by the authority of TIIAME for new Centre. Modern Recourses provided by British Council and other project partners were placed in the modern bookshelves of the Centre. It was also mentioned about the support of TIIAME administration all conveniences for teachers and students including the advanced informational technology.
After the opening ceremony at the Professional Development Centre Guzal Eshchanova, EMI project participant, a senior teacher of English, from “English Language” department made a presentation about TIIAME, about faculties and specialties for bachelor and Master students of the Institute. There was shown a videopresentation about TIIAME at the new Professional Development Centre. In the presentation it was mentioned about that TIIAME entered to the top of the best universities of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, achieving 301-350 score in the ranking of QS for 2019-2020, for receiving the positive grades on the indicators such as academic reputation, reputation among employers
and scientific potential.
It is important to admit since 1923, TIIAME has trained over 80,000 specialists for water and agricultural industries, academics, researchers, and leaders of government agencies. Its reputation echoes throughout the world with about 2000 alumni from 38 countries.
According to the agenda after the coffee break project coordinators and participants were devided into sections and UK consultants Rod Bolitho and Jason Skeet conducted their sessions.
It is important to suggest that within the EMI project British Council presented different resources to 16 Non phylological Institutions. During seminar-training there were discussed different presentations about the Effective EMI teaching, 21st century skills, Projects of British Council in Higher Education Institutions, Flipped classroom, Blended learning, EMI materials development, Challenges and Solutions in teaching EMI, Best practices and opportunities for EMI teachers. During the question-answer period there were discussed the actual issues such as the Importance of training specialists that meet the requirements of labor market, Modernization of EMI teaching and implementation of Advanced technologies in education. Project participants and presenters were awarded with certificates at the final stage of the workshop.
The opening ceremony of new Professional Development Centre and workshop within the EMI international project at TIIAME was productive and impressive, as a number of solutions were offered to challenges in EMI teaching. The gained experience and shared ideas from the project served for identifying the next steps of the project.
Head of the Press Service of the Institute Rakhimboy Djumaniyazov