"You can sew this uniform and wear it" - UrSU requires students to wear a uniform twice a year
Urgench State University is introducing a new uniform for students from the 2026/27 academic year. In an audio clip obtained by Kun.uz, a person claiming to be a university official demands that students wear the prescribed uniform. According to the source, students received a new uniform at the end of the previous academic year.
At Urgench State University, students are being asked to wear uniforms twice a year, which is causing protests.
In an audio recording that reached Kun.uz, one of the university officials gave instructions to students to wear new uniforms. According to it, boys are required to choose and sew a dark blue suit-trousers, and girls are required to choose one of two options: a skirt-blouse. The audio recording says: "Starting today, take action, you will sew and wear this uniform."
It was also reported that teacher-tutors in university groups were given the task of collecting students' clothing sizes.
According to the source, a new uniform made of adras fabric was introduced for UrSU students in April-May of this year. A few months later, on the eve of the new academic year, another requirement is being made to purchase a blue and white uniform.
The issue of student uniforms in Uzbekistan’s higher education system has been a source of controversy for many years. Two years ago, the deputy dean of Tashkent State Pedagogical University pressured students to buy and wear a uniform of a certain design. Last academic year, a group of students at the University of Journalism and Mass Communications were told they were not allowed to attend classes because they did not have uniforms, but the administration said they were not allowed to attend classes because they were late for class.
The Ministry of Higher Education has consistently emphasized one point in discussions on this issue in recent years: each university has the right to set requirements for students’ clothing based on its own internal regulations. At the same time, the ministry has stated that there are no requirements for universities regarding student uniforms.
However, another question arises here: what is the benefit of imposing an internal dress code and obliging students to have new uniforms made (sometimes repeatedly in short periods of time) of a certain model? Moreover, it remains unclear who chose such a uniform, how much it cost, whether students were given alternative options, and how students who received the previous uniform were justified in having to spend money on a new uniform.
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