Monday, August 09, 2021

An Interview with Elvin Gasimov about objective and long-term vision of the Education Committee

On 20 May 2021, the first online meeting was held by the members of new established Education Committee within the Azerbaijan-France Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AFchamber). AFchamber is a non-governmental, non-profit organization with the key mission to promote a favorable business climate and contribute to public-private partnership within the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Chair of the Committee Fariz Ismailzade, Vice-Rector at ADA University, Deputy Chairs Latifa Nasibova, Head of Education Department at UFAZ and Elvin Gasimov, Audit Director at Baker Tilly Azerbaijan presented the new established Education Committee to the participants. The purpose of the Education Committee is to create a partnership between Education and Business sectors within the Republic of Azerbaijan.

AFchamber's Managing Director, Ziber Huseynova, presented about Chamber's work in the public-private partnership and its achievements in the field of education in her opening remarks.

The meeting was attended by more than 10 rectors and vice-rectors of universities, representatives of the Chamber’s member companies, representative of business sectors and various educational institutions.

An Interview with Elvin Gasimov about objective and long-term vision of the Committee.

The objective and long-term vision of the Committee is “promotion of a better connection between the Education and Business sectors and to bring the parts together”. Our target is to establish a platform for dialogue between education institutions and private companies with the purpose to improve the relevance of study programs to the labor market needs.

Our Mission statement includes, but not limited;

  • To ensure the creation of a platform for dialogue between education institutions (higher education and vocational education and training) and private companies with the purpose to improve the relevance of study programs to the labor market needs;
  • To analyze the gap between Education and Business sectors within the Republic of Azerbaijan and work on decreasing it;
  • To attract and keep the business representatives focused on specific activities with mutual benefits (CSR programs); 
  • To invite the companies to contribute in the smooth integration of graduates into the labor market;
  • To work with different entities for improving legislation allowing a better cooperation between Universities and Companies;
  • To work with the vocational institutions in order to ensure the good transition from school to the labor market by providing the real needs of companies in terms of skills;
  • Creation of a Quality Label for companies, who actively cooperating with education institutions, to reward them for their commitment in forming high quality human capital for the future development of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

As a committee members we are open to the suggestions of each stakeholder groups and would be happy to hear from you about the issues that your company/university is facing during the cooperation process.

The main agenda is to extend the members and non-members of the Committee with potential working groups, partnerships and volunteers from both side stakeholder representatives. Stakeholders include but limited to the representatives of government and non-government organizations, education sector, private organizations, international organizations, agencies, civil society, media and press, etc.

Currently, we focused on an active Action Plan and Work Programs for the realization of the Committee goals in 2021.

We expect a new start-ups and hackathon programs by potential young talents in creation of a digital platform for Company/University cooperation.