On October 9, the thesis proposal defense for the first cohort of students majoring in Agronomy and Seed Industry (Horticulture) at Tashkent Campus NWAFU was successfully held. Hu Xiaohui, Head of the College of International Education and President of Tashkent Campus NWAFU, attended the event and encouraged the students to solidify their academic foundation under the guidance of their supervisory teams, proactively align their studies with industry needs, and continuously enhance their integrated competence in “professional expertise + language skills.” She urged them to meet graduation requirements on schedule, strive to conduct their research in the fields, and ground their achievements in real agricultural practice. She also encouraged the students to deepen their understanding of Chinese culture and to learn Chinese well so as to promote cultural exchange and scientific cooperation between China and Uzbekistan.
Urazboev Azizbek, Olimov Avazbek, and Rasulov Kayrat came well prepared, with their research topics focusing on key aspects of strawberry breeding and propagation. Their proposals were titled “Rapid Propagation of Strawberry Germplasm Resources Based on Tissue Culture,” “Research on Micro-clonal Propagation Techniques for High-Quality Large-Fruit Strawberry Lines,” and “Trait Investigation of Strawberry Hybrid Progeny,” respectively. Each student delivered a systematic presentation covering research objectives, research content, and expected outcomes. The defense committee provided comments on feasibility, innovation, timeline arrangement, and the representation of cutting-edge research. They recommended further refining sample sizes and experimental designs, strengthening statistical methods and field validation, and ensuring precise alignment with local industry needs.
The experts of the defense committee unanimously agreed that the three research projects address practical issues in protected horticulture and high-quality seed breeding. They are expected to yield phased achievements in areas such as high-quality strawberry seedling propagation, line selection, and trait inheritance analysis, thereby providing technical support for improving the quality and yield of regional fruit production. The students stated that they would promptly refine their proposal reports based on the committee’s suggestions, clarify milestone tasks and schedules, ensure a clear research roadmap, maintain rigorous process management, and strictly adhere to academic standards.
The thesis proposal defense for the first cohort of students of Tashkent Campus NWAFU marks a key milestone in the graduate training process, signaling a new stage of standardized and regularized talent development at the branch. This event has laid a solid foundation for improving the training program, strengthening process-based evaluation, and enhancing the quality of dual-supervisor guidance. It also provides a replicable and scalable model for the research training of subsequent cohorts across various disciplines.