In 2017 and 2018, the Foundation awarded two-year scholarships for postgraduate studies in Europe to 23 young people from Uzbekistan. Launched in 2017, the scholarship program helps to provide access to international educational opportunities for young Uzbek students. 

The Karimov Foundation was founded in late 2016 by Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva and Tatyana Karimova in honour of the founder of the independent Republic of Uzbekistan and its first president Islam Karimov. 

While the Foundation is dedicated to a number of different goals – including the promotion of Uzbek arts and culture – education is one of the organization’s top priorities. In support of this goal, the Scholarship Program for Postgraduate Studies Abroad was created in early 2017, and has so far supported two cohorts of recipients.

The aim of the scholarship program is to help some of Uzbekistan’s most promising students pursue postgraduate education at leading universities all around the world, with the hope that the knowledge, skills, and new perspectives they bring back will contribute to Uzbekistan’s progress and development. 

The Karimov Foundation’s scholars are currently studying at the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences (Germany), Ruhr-University Bochum (Germany), Freiburg University, the University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany), Moscow Architectural School and the Polytechnic University of Turin (Italy).

The scholarships are awarded in a variety of disciplines—including mechanical engineering, natural sciences (renewable energy and chemistry), water and land resource management, food technology, architecture and industrial design, and fine arts—and each scholarship allows the recipient to pursue a two-year master’s degree program at an international university of their choice. The Karimov Foundation works with the scholarship recipients to select the destination for their studies. It also maintains contact with the students, providing comprehensive support throughout the duration of their degree program.