ENU delegation presented international projects at the British Council summit in Tashkent

The delegation of The L. N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University took part in the summit on English and inclusion, organized by the British Council in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The summit brought together 28 universities from the UK and Central Asian countries, becoming an important platform for discussing modern approaches to the training of future teachers and the development of inclusive education.

The ENU delegation included Zhanargul Beisembayeva, Head of the Foreign Languages Theory and Practice Department, Dosym Baidrakhmanov, Head of the Foreign Philology Department, as well as Bibigul Kussanova and Aigul Tadjibaeva, lecturers of the Graduate School of Education. Representatives of the university made presentations on the results of two international projects implemented jointly with the University of Lincoln (Great Britain) and Urgench State University (Uzbekistan).

Within the framework of the summit, Zh. Beisembayeva also participated in panel discussions, presenting Kazakhstan’s experience in modernizing English teacher training and introducing inclusive educational practices.

The event was organized by the British Council jointly with the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Innovations and the Ministry of Pre-School and School Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The Summit became a platform to celebrate the results of the excellent partnership between ten UK and eighteen Central Asian universities specialising in pre-service teacher training (PRESETT).

In 2025-2026 the English and Inclusion Accelerator Scheme coordinated by the British Council supported 11 partnerships between UK and Central Asia higher education institutions. The focus is to foster a more inclusive learning environment by integrating inclusive teaching practices into PRESETT programmes.

The partnerships focused on such topics as: Gender mainstreaming, SEN - special educational needs and disability, neurodiversity, as well as social and digital inclusion. They worked to address the needs of three main groups: women and girls, people with disabilities and students from remote low-income areas.

The 11 projects within the Accelerator Scheme engaged over 1000 pre-service and in-service teachers, teacher educators, and university staff across Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The Summit is supported by the British Council and funded by the UK International Development. It is a part of the British Council Accelerating English Language Learning in Central Asia (AELLCA) programme which is designed to respond to national English reform agendas, focusing on English teacher education and developing more inclusive education systems across the Central Asian region. Key academic partner of the programme is Norwich Institute for Language Education (Great Britain).

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The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. It works with over 200 countries and territories and on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2024-2025 the initiatives of the organization covered 600 million people.