Akhmadbek Yusupov Steps Down as Commission Head After 10 Years
Uzbekistan
The perennial head of the Higher Attestation Commission, who defined the evaluation vector for the country's scientific personnel for an entire decade, has been dismissed by a government decree. This personnel decision came as a direct consequence of a harsh high-level review that exposed problems of plagiarism and the dominance of predatory scientific publications, signaling the beginning of a radical restructuring of the entire system for granting academic degrees.
By a Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers dated May 26, 2026, Akhmadbek Yusupov has been relieved of his post as Chairman of the Higher Attestation Commission (HAC), which he had led since November 2015. The resignation follows fierce criticism from the head of the Academy of Sciences, Shavkat Ayupov, who pointed out a surge in plagiarism and Uzbekistan's leading position in the number of publications in low-tier, non-prestigious scientific journals.
The personnel shake-up coincided with a large-scale reform: there are plans to detach HAC from the Ministry of Higher Education and transfer it to the structure of the Academy of Sciences. The new concept presented to the President provides for a fundamental improvement of the agency's operations, total digitalization of processes, introduction of a rating evaluation for scientific councils, and a sharp increase in their personal accountability for the quality of theses.
The personnel shake-up coincided with a large-scale reform: there are plans to detach HAC from the Ministry of Higher Education and transfer it to the structure of the Academy of Sciences. The new concept presented to the President provides for a fundamental improvement of the agency's operations, total digitalization of processes, introduction of a rating evaluation for scientific councils, and a sharp increase in their personal accountability for the quality of theses.
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