Kongratbay Sharipov

Kongratbay (Qo'ng'irotboy) Sharipov was born in 1963 in the Kungrad district of Karakalpakstan. He entered the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers in 1981; he holds a candidate (1992) and a doctor (2005) of technical sciences degree and the title of professor. He began as a teacher and laboratory head at that institute and later held managerial posts in the automotive industry, at the Tashkent Daewoo centre, the TOSHAFUS joint venture and GM Uzbekistan.

In 2009–2010 and 2017–2019 he was rector of Turin Polytechnic University in Tashkent, and in 2010–2017 its first vice-rector for finance and economics. In 2019 he was first deputy minister of higher and secondary specialised education, and from November 2019 to January 2024 rector of the Tashkent State University of Economics (TSUE).

On 2 February 2024 a presidential decree, after the Legislative Chamber's deputies had endorsed his nomination, confirmed him as Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation. On 24 August 2024 he received the Order of Friendship on the anniversary of independence.

In early October 2026 the Ministry of Preschool and School Education and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation were abolished and replaced by a single Ministry of Education and Science; in October Sharipov returned as rector of TSUE. He is the author of more than 450 scientific works, including monographs on the regeneration of waste oils.