Samarkand State University

Samarkand is the cradle of civilization throughout Central Asia, the place where the great minds of the Middle Ages were born, studied and enlightened the population, whose names are inscribed with golden threads in the pages of the history of Uzbekistan and the whole world. 

With the advent of Russian power, the first university in all of Central Asia was opened in Samarkand, which in the future became the base for the opening of Samarkand State University. So, the history of one of the oldest universities in Uzbekistan and Central Asia begins with the first half of the XX century, when on January 22, 1927, the Uzbek Pedagogical Institute opened in the capital of the Uzbek SSR, which at that time was the city of Samarkand. The best cadres from leading Russian universities were invited to work at the Institute. The founders of the Institute were N.A. Merkulovich, S. Aini, K. Abdullaev, V.L. Vyatkin. The first rector of the Institute was one of its founders – Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor N.A. Merkulovich. The Samarkand Pedagogical Institute has been repeatedly reorganized and renamed. So, in 1930 it became the Uzbek State Pedagogical Academy. In 1933, the Uzbek State University was organized on the basis of the Academy. During this time period, in addition to Russian professors and teachers, representatives of local educators also worked at the university. Most of them were ardent supporters of the local educational movement – Jadids, among whom one can single out Abdurauf Fitrat, Gazi Alim Yunusov, Ibrahim Muminov, Ulug Tursunov, Syddykiy Ajzi and others. 

In 1941, the Uzbek University was named after Alisher Navoi, in honor of the 500th anniversary of the birth of the legendary philosopher and poet of the Timurid era. 

After, during the Second World War, the university was closed and merged with Tashkent State University. In 1941, on the initiative of Musa Muminov and the support of Joseph Stalin, the Uzbek University was reopened, and Musa Muminov, becoming its rector, made a great contribution to the development of the university. In particular, it was during his rectorship that the first internships of university teachers began at the best universities in Moscow and then Leningrad. 

Since 1950, the first groups were opened at the Uzbek State University, where training took place in the Uzbek language. 

In 1961, the university was renamed Samarkand State University, on the basis of which the Samarkand Pedagogical Institute named after Sadriddin Aini was opened in 1992. 

In 2016, Tashkent State University of Uzbek Language and Literature was opened in Tashkent, which was named after Alisher Navoi, and Samarkand State University was named after a prominent politician of the XX century and a graduate of this university - Sharaf Rashidov. 

Famous graduates of Samarkand University are also such personalities as Hamid Alimjan, Usman Nasyr, Zarema Katusheva, Ubay Arifov, Mukhammadkul Narzikulov, Shakir Selim and many others. 

Today, more than 25 thousand students study at the university, in the areas of bachelor's, master's, postgraduate and doctoral studies. Foreign students also study at the university. The University actively cooperates with foreign universities by participating in international conferences, and also organizes conferences with international participation in Samarkand. The second largest university of the republic after Tashkent National University is one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the country, which annually publishes a scientific bulletin in Russian and Uzbek with a frequency of 6 times a year.