As part of the National Ranking of Vocational Education Institutions, the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Education analyzed admission outcomes and career choice trends among students entering technical colleges.

The findings reveal that in the 2025/2026 academic year, more than 249,000 students enrolled in technical colleges. Of these, over 161,000 were Grade 9 graduates, meaning that 32.2% of all Grade 9 graduates chose to continue their education through vocational pathways—approximately one in every three students.

The most popular fields of study among applicants are:

• Automobile repair and maintenance – 20%
• Tailoring – 7%
• Nursing – 6%
• Tractor and agricultural machinery operation – 5%
• General medical practice – 4%
• Computer graphics and digital design – 4%
• Digital information processing – 3%

The analysis also shows that more than 41,000 students enrolled in dual education programmes, allowing them to combine classroom learning with workplace training. Today, one in every six technical college students is gaining practical work experience alongside their studies.

Another noteworthy trend is that nearly 65% of fee-paying students chose programmes in the healthcare and social welfare sector, highlighting the growing demand for these professions.
Based on this indicator, the Top 10 technical colleges in the 2026 National Ranking demonstrated the strongest performance in attracting students and meeting labour market demand.

The National Ranking also serves as a performance-based incentive mechanism. The Top 50 technical colleges will each receive financial incentives equivalent to 3,000 times the Base Calculation Amount (BCA)—approximately UZS 1.32 billion—to support further institutional development.

These results reflect the increasing attractiveness of vocational education and its growing role in preparing a skilled workforce aligned with the country's economic priorities.