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ASEU

A bridge between European

and Asian universities

Interview with

ShahinV. Bayramov

Vice-Rector for International Affairs and Programmes,
Azerbaijan State Economic University

Q. First of all, let me congratulate development strategy of the
you on your nomination as Vice- university and to be directly
Rector. Could you tell us what involved in continuous reform
you would like to achieve in this processes drawn from the recog-
position? nized international experience
of leading higher education ins-
Thank you for your congratulations. titutions in other parts of the
First of all, I would like to say that it world. be our contribution to intensifying
is a great honour and responsibility for Azerbaijan's integration into the world
me to be appointed to such a presti- With reference to what I would like community.
gious position. This appointment has to achieve in this position, I can men-
an additional importance for me as I tion many goals. First of all, we have ASEU also has great potential to be-
graduated and received all my degrees to make ASEU an integral part of the come a research-oriented institution,
from this university (bachelor, master, European educational area. In this which is also a significant factor in
Ph.D.). Furthermore, at the beginning regard, we are going to adopt the most achieving the status of a highly com-
of my professional carrier I started advanced international practices on petitive university. We are now going
work at Azerbaijan State Economic higher education while respecting lo- to pay special attention to this sector.
University (ASEU), and those eight cal and traditional realities. Participation in international educa-
years allowed me to become a part of tional research programmes is another
ASEU's family. I am very grateful to We will do our best to make ASEU one important aspect of our international
the governance and the whole acade- of the most prestigious universities in co-operation. In this regard, EU-
mic/administrative staff of ASEU for the region by increasing the level of financed programmes (Erasmus, Jean
their kind support and contribution to higher education in all directions and Monnet, Marie Curie, etc.) will be our
my professional development during fields of university activities. This will main priorities in completing overall
these years. allow us to make ASEU an attractive reforms at ASEU. We have enormous
university for international students potential to become a bridge between
ASEU is one of the biggest higher edu- and to prepare highly specialized gra- European and Asian universities by
cation institutions in the Southern duates for all sectors of the economy. participating in these projects and
Caucasus and it is the only completely They will be able to face the rapidly programmes.
economics-oriented public university changing labour market conditions
in Azerbaijan. Despite being one of resulting from the dynamic global eco- In order to reach these goals, we are
the oldest universities in the country, nomy, as well as the fast-developing going to draft and implement ASEU's
currently ASEU is considered to be Azerbaijan economy. international strategy including our
the most modern and reform-oriented short-term and long-term goals, and
institution. ASEU's mission is to pro- We intend to develop bilateral and this strategy will act as a so-called
vide high-quality education in the eco- multilateral co-operation with rele- road-map for us. This strategy is in-
nomic sector leading to the prepara- vant global organizations like The tended to focus on enhancing bilateral
tion of highly-skilled specialists for the World Bank, WTO, UNCTAD, WIPO, co-operation, student/staff exchanges,
Azerbaijan economy. etc. This will enable us to align the joint-degrees and dual-diploma pro-
educational process with global pers- grammes with relevant foreign univer-
In this general picture, as the Vice- pectives and to prepare future econo- sities.
Rector for International Affairs and mists able to respond to international
Programmes my principal role is to challenges. We are confident that this Generally speaking, there are many
support and contribute to the overall kind of in-depth co-operation will issues to deal with in the areas under

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