Russia and Azerbaijan strengthen inter-university cooperation

The ADA University in Baku is hosting the Azerbaijani-Russian inter-university forum today. The rector of the ADA, Hafiz Pashayev, said that the Association of Azerbaijani and Russian universities will be formed soon, "which will work to the benefit of both Russian and Azerbaijani universities."

This forum, which gathered the leadership of many universities of both countries in the capital of the Republic of Azerbaijan, will provide a significant impetus to international cooperation and the internationalization of education, the spokesman for the Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan, Casarat Valehov, said in conversation with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza. The official representative of the department said that it is a very useful forum for strengthening of Russian-Azerbaijani contacts.

"We have become a part of a new level of relations between the universities of the two countries from this day. This creates the experience of development of bilateral cooperation between our universities, which allows us to talk about an additional impetus to cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan, as well as between universities," Casarat Valehov noted.

According to the press-secretary of the Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan, such meetings should continue in the future. "We can formulate a new range of tasks, holding of seminars and laboratory co-operation between universities. Let me remind you, tomorrow the Russian Minister for Education and Science, Dmitry Livanov, and the Azerbaijani Minister of Education, Mikayil Jabbarov, will address the forum. There will be a signing ceremony of a memorandum on the establishment of the Association of Russian and Azerbaijani universities," the official representative of the Ministry concluded.

The Rector of the Azerbaijan Tourism Institute, Jafar Jafarov, evaluated the forum as a very important event. "The leadership of nearly 30 universities and both Ministers of Education are involved in the forum, which is held at the Diplomatic Academy – all this testifies to the high level of the event. Once we had a common educational space and today such forums will surely contribute to strengthening ties. For example, tomorrow we are going to sign an agreement with the Russian State Humanitarian University, we will also negotiate on the further deepening of relations with the University of the North Caucasus," the rector of the Azerbaijan Tourism Institute noted.

According to Jafar Jafarov, Russian-Azerbaijani cooperation in the field of education has very great potential. "So far, our relations are developing mainly within the framework of humanitarian forums and I think we need to raise it to a higher official level. In general, we have growing multilateral cooperation and we have established good contacts with many universities," he said.

In this regard, the rector proposed to increase the exchange of students and teachers, as well as joint research. "These are tested ways of cooperation, and I think that all these issues will be discussed today at the forum. For example, yesterday the rector of the Russian State Humanitarian University, Yefim Pivovar, met with our Minister of Education Mikail Jabbarov and our minister recently held talks with Dmitry Livanov. That is, our cooperation is constantly expanding, and now it's time to put it on a solid foundation," Jafar Jafarov concluded.

The rector of the Russian State Humanitarian University, Yefim Pivovar, speaking at the Azerbaijani-Russian inter-university forum in Baku, called Baku a unique platform for discussing pressing problems in education, drawing attention to the existence of a program of Azerbaijani studies in Russian universities. "These facts are indicative of the warm relations and close cooperation between the two countries. Traditions are good, but they always need to be expanded and strengthened," he stressed.

He described the signing of the memorandum on the establishment of the Association of Russian and Azerbaijani Universities as a very important step towards strengthening cooperation and exchanges between the universities of both countries. "Undoubtedly, the activities of this organization will be a great success," AzerTAg cited Yefim Pivovar as saying.