In 1992 the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, founded Urgench State University. Its predecessor was the Khorezm Pedagogical State Institute.
The university offers 58 bachelor degrees, 27 master's degrees and 20 PhD programmes. Faculties include: physics and mathematics; foreign philology; philology; natural sciences; pedagogics; physical culture; history; tourism and economics; technique; chemical technologies, and art among others. There are also 36 departments offering courses in more specialised areas.
In 2001 the university began publishing a scientific and methodical journal, ‘Ilm Sarchashmalari’. The journal is published once a month and mainly publishes articles on the humanities and social and natural sciences. In 2017 the country’s Minister of Higher and Secondary Specialised Education encouraged the university to produce an electronic scientific journal. This digital journal publishes articles in English and discusses social, humanitarian, technical, natural and exact sciences, as well as information technology, medicine, literature and linguistics.
Today there are over 1,000 international students studying at the university. Some of them are citizens of the Russian Federation and others are from the Republic of Turkmenistan. In 2018 the university opened a language training centre, offering international students English language courses to improve their skills and knowledge.
The university is located in Khorezm, a region in northwestern Uzbekistan. Khorezm is split into 10 administrative districts with Urgench as its capital. The region is popular with tourists because of the city of Khiva, which has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city boasts impressive architecture and historical monuments dating back more than 2,500 years.
