Everything starts at home

The first time when I came face to face with an exchange program was back in my own country. My university was recruiting volunteers to be hosts for students arriving from Westminster in London. Despite my internship I decided to participate, to welcome students and introduce to them my city Tashkent.

I would like to provide a little overview of my home. Tashkent is a capital city in the northeast of Uzbekistan. A word about Uzbekistan, it is a developing country in the heart of Central Asia. Fun fact we are double locked country with no access to the sea, with hot summers and cold winters. Extremes are all about us. The moment I heard that students from the UK were visiting us, I tried to imagine how they see Uzbekistan. I knew one thing: they have never heard of us. My guess was correct. Many things in Tashkent surprised them and many things about them surprised me...

Going down memory lane, one thing that surprised me was the difference in knowledge and worldview. Although I expected differences in knowledge from students of the UK, the fact that we study almost in the same university of Westminster, and still have a knowledge gap has led me to think that I need extra studies to keep up with these students. The way they comprehend information, the way they think outside of the box and even don't notice it themselves stroke me and led me to my journey of other exchange programs. I wanted to see these professors who foster intelligent students, I wanted to be a part of this community...

Countries #Uzbekistan #UK

About the program

The new SDG Summer School program exemplifies both institutions' commitment to the United Nation's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).The program's main purpose is to enhance the employability of our Undergraduate students, through their engagement with industry experts who contribute to the realization of SDGs in their day-to-day professional activities.

Westminster International University in Tashkent (WIUT) and the University of Westminster (UoW) in London run for the first time the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summer School from May 22nd to May 26th 2022 in Tashkent.