On February 8, the Minister of Education Emin Amrullayev has met with the UK Minister of State for the European Neighborhood and the Americas Wendy Morton.   At the meeting, the parties discussed the current state of cooperation between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the United Kingdom in the field of education and prospects for future development. The parties also exchanged views on projects implemented in our country with the support of the British Council.  

08/02/2021 07:04

For the Azerbaijani Ministry of Education, connected, data-driven education is the future of learning. With the aid of its recently launched online education platform, the Ministry is helping more than 1.3 million K–12 students advance their knowledge from wherever they study. Using Microsoft Teams for Education and Microsoft Power BI, the Ministry and teachers are equipped with key educational content, insights, and statistics. This helps improve teaching methodologies over time, ensuring students stay engaged with lessons. Teams enables students to connect to personalized learning content seamlessly, making exceptional education possible in any location. The Ministry of Education (MoE) of the Republic of Azerbaijan has rolled out a new educational platform that it calls Virtual School. Based on Microsoft Teams, Virtual School reaches K–12 schools and higher education institutions and is reshaping the way both Azerbaijani students and teachers approach learning. The platform implementation, which was supported by Edumedia-Azerbaijan, BestComp, and Innovative Technologies in Education—all part of the Microsoft Partner Network—enabled the Ministry to quickly create online classrooms as a response to healthcare challenges. However, the platform also serves the larger purpose of constantly improving teaching methods and keeps students engaged with lessons. “We now have the tools we need to better identify subjects to be taught and methodologies to be used in different classes,” says Vusal Khanlarov, Head of Bureau on ICT at the Ministry of Education.   Delivering better education with data “We created digital identities for our students and teachers, both across general and higher education,” shares Khanlarov. “By delving into how users interact with the platform, share and use content, it allows us to better understand and pick effective learning and teaching strategies so that we can support everyone effectively. Moreover, the platform is also designed to function as a content hub. Lectures recorded and uploaded via Microsoft Stream will remain accessible for years to come. And since about 80 percent of students use the platform on their cell phones, it means we are supporting anytime, anywhere mobile learning opportunities.”   Learning from the leaders, filling in the gaps The Ministry gained new insight to identify the best-performing teachers and classes—enabling other schools to take advantage of the strategies that work best. For example, by exploring which grades and schools show the highest activity rates, and with which teachers, it’s possible to identify and roll out the most effective educational approaches broadly. "We use Power BI dashboard visualizations to get rapid insights into how students are doing on their tests and which subjects are well perceived,” explains Khanlarov. "In each school, we can dive deep and see how active the students are in every grade and every class." Another dashboard is helping determine how to best expand educational content Khanlarov explains, “By analyzing how students perform on their tests, it’s possible to find and fill in lesson gaps, making content richer where it needs to be.”   A vision for the future Rounding out its efforts to serve a digital-forward generation of learners, the MoE is currently adding Microsoft Azure speech recognition technology for the Azerbaijani language. “This will help create an online index for dynamic content retrieval,” explains Khanlarov. "Our goal is to create a personal learning path for each teacher and student. The online tools that we have allow us to go in that direction," he concludes.   In each school, we can dive deep and see how active the students are in every grade and every class.   Vusal Khanlarov: Head of Bureau on ICT Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan   "Microsoft"

21/01/2021 13:21

On January 11, the Azerbaijani Minister of Education Emin Amrullayev has met with a delegation led by Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) Dr. Salim bin Mohammed Al-Malik. The sides discussed the current state of and prospects for cooperation between the country and the organization in the sphere of education. It was noted that by the relevant order of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, a total of 51 students earned the right to study in higher educational institutions of Azerbaijan under the educational grant established for the citizens of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states. Minister Emin Amrullayev said that 10 pupils were killed, 16 pupils were injured and 54 educational institutions were destroyed as a result of attacks by the Armenian armed forces, which lasted more than 6 weeks since September 27 last year. The minister emphasized that appropriate steps had been taken to eliminate the damage. As part of his visit to Azerbaijan, ICESCO Director General Salim bin Mohammed Al-Malik will visit the liberated territories.

13/01/2021 12:23

On January 6, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation within the “Stipendium Hungaricum” program for 2021-2023. In accordance with the relevant decree of the president of Azerbaijan, this Memorandum was signed by Minister of Education Emin Amrullayev from the Azerbaijani side and Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Hungary to Azerbaijan Viktor Szederkenyi from the Hungarian side. Along with specialties in agriculture and water management, natural sciences and sustainable development, tourism, engineering, information technologies, economics, business, and management, Azerbaijani citizens will be able to get scholarships in Hungary in specialties in the field of medical sciences and international relations. At the same time, Azerbaijani youth will have the opportunity to study in higher educational institutions of this country upon the “one-tier” master program (joint bachelor's and master's degrees). For the first time, the Azerbaijani side will also provide 10 places with scholarships for Hungarian citizens. Hungarian citizens will be able to study at Azerbaijani universities at the bachelor's, master's, and doctoral levels. It should be mentioned that the Azerbaijani Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Human Resources of Hungary have been closely cooperating in the field of education since 2015. To date, two scholarship programs have been implemented for Azerbaijani citizens in Hungary for 2015-2017 and 2018-2020. In total, within both programs, almost 1,000 Azerbaijani citizens obtained the opportunity to get an education in such leading universities of Hungary as “Budapest University of Technology and Economics”,” Corvinus University of Budapest”, “University of Szeged”, “Eötvös Loránd University”, “University of Debrecen”, and the “University of Pécs”.

08/01/2021 10:11

The Minister of Education Emin Amrullayev held a virtual meeting with a group of our compatriots engaged in academic activities abroad, working in the world's leading universities on the occasion of "Solidarity Day of Azerbaijanis around the world" and the victory in the "Patriotic War". The main purpose of the meeting was to evaluate the proposals of our compatriots engaged in academic activities abroad on the development of education in our country, as well as to inform our compatriots about the reforms and works to be done in this area, as well as to determine their individual contributions to this process. The meeting was attended by a group of the graduates of the "State Program for the Education of Azerbaijani Youth Abroad in 2007-2015", engaged in scientific research at leading foreign universities, as well as the graduates of other scholarship programs or private funds who are currently represented at the academic staff of foreign higher education institutions. The participants of the event exchanged views on the use of foreign experience for the development of science and education in Azerbaijan, voiced their proposals for improving the level of teaching and research at universities in our country. In conclusion, the Minister of Education Emin Amrullayev congratulated the participants on the occasion of the historic victory of our brave army in the Patriotic War under the leadership of Supreme Commander-in-Chief President Ilham Aliyev, and the upcoming December 31 -  “The Day of Solidarity of Azerbaijanis around the world” and wished success to everyone. It was noted that after appropriate evaluation of the proposals voiced at the meeting, the contributions of our compatriots represented at the academic level abroad to teaching, internship, and research opportunities will be considered, and the general public will be informed accordingly.

30/12/2020 15:38

The 51st International Physics Olympiad (International Virtual Physics Olympiad) was organized on December 7-14, 2020. The Azerbaijani students joined the online Olympiad, where 235 participants from 47 countries competed. Students representing Azerbaijan successfully participated in the Olympiad, which consisted of theoretical and practical rounds. Thus, Murad Bashirov, an 11th grade student of the Sumgait Gymnasium of Natural Sciences, won a bronze medal, Siraj Yahyazadeh, an 11th grade student of the same gymnasium, and Ayhan Suleymanzadeh, an 11th grade student of the Baku Turkish Lyceum of the Turkish Solidarity Foundation, were awarded the "Incentive Award" certificate.

15/12/2020 18:18

More than 580,000 students, 310,000 parents, 52,000 teachers and 19,000 schools from 64 countries participated in the TIMSS 2019 international assessment. 194 schools, 5,300 students, about 5,300 parents and 310 teachers from Azerbaijan were involved in the TIMSS 2019 international assessment. Our country was represented in this study only by grade four students. According to the results of the study in mathematics, our country has achieved a significant result. The Azerbaijani students scored 515 points and ranked 28th place among 58 countries participating in this direction in the study. The TIMSS mathematical achievement of Azerbaijan in 2019 increased from 463 points to 515 points, this is an increase of 52 points compared to the corresponding figure in 2011. With this result, Azerbaijan is considered the country showing the highest result in the South Caucasus. Our country is in the 50th place with 427 points in natural sciences. In addition, there has also been a significant increase in the number of our students achieving the “excellent” and “high” benchmarks. Thus, while in 2011, 21% of our students scored "excellent" and "high" grades in mathematics, in 2019 this result was 36%. The main purpose of the TIMSS international study is to examine the system's achievement trends in a global context, gather information on education policies, assess the impact of updated policies, clarify areas of low performance and promote relevant reforms, as well as along with revealing the results of students' knowledge of mathematics and natural sciences, to obtain valuable information about home and school contexts for teaching and learning. The TIMSS study, conducted by the International Association for the Assessment of Educational Achievement since 1995 and every four years (1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019), is an international survey that assesses students' knowledge of mathematics and natural sciences in grades IV and VIII. In total, about 70 countries use the TIMSS data to assess the effectiveness of their education systems, and new countries join TIMSS in each assessment. It should be noted that our country last participated in the TIMSS study in 2011 and was represented only by grade four students.

14/12/2020 11:54

The next public figure of the "Famous Teachers of Karabakh" project of the Ministry of Education is Famil Mehdi. He was born on December 25, 1934 in Sarihajili village of Aghdam region. Being engaged in active pedagogical activity, Famil Mehdi worked at the faculty of philology of the Azerbaijan State University (nowadays Baku State University) as a teacher and senior lecturer,  head of the department of theory and practice of journalism at the faculty of journalism. Famil Mehdi is one of the authors of the textbook entitled "Issues of Journalism" for university students. The poet, doctor of philological sciences, professor Famil Mehdi devoted about 50 years of his life to his people and the development of science and art. His voice was heard in auditoriums, at the scientific and theoretical conferences where serious discussions were held, at meetings with intellectuals, ordinary people, soldiers, from tribunes where the pulse of the time was beating and the fate of the people was decided. Famil Mehdi, who was describing his poems as an autobiography, said: "My poems are my faith, my struggle, my pride, as well as my cowardice, my weakness, my helpless and my loneliness". According to Famil Mehdi, who advised always to be strong-willed, if a person shows principle and finds courage in himself, he can even overcome death. It should be noted that the "Famous Teachers of Karabakh" project provides information about famous persons born in Karabakh who were engaged in pedagogical activity at that time. The aim of the project is to commemorate famous teachers originally from Karabakh.

30/11/2020 11:46

The next public figure of the "Famous Teachers of Karabakh" project of the Ministry of Education is Mammad Aslan. He was born on December 24, 1939 in Lachin village of Kalbajar region. After graduating from higher education in 1962, he was sent to his native Kalbajar region. He started his labor career as a teacher of Azerbaijani language and literature in Yanshag and Istisu village schools of Kalbajar region. The poems of Mammad Aslan, a talented man of words who has left his mark on our literature, reflect all the natural beauties of Kalbajar. His friends called him Kalbajar itself. Kalbajar was both the beginning and the end of Mammad Aslan's speech. "It never comes out of my sleep, it never goes out of my sight. For me, Kalbajar is another world, another longing. Kalbajar has remained as an example of honor and dignity for me," he said. The poet wrote in one of his poems, "That Kalbajar will not return, if it returns, hundreds of Kalbajar will return ..." But today that Kalbajar has returned, 27 years later Kalbajar was liberated from occupation ... It should be noted that the "Famous Teachers of Karabakh" project provides information about famous people born in Karabakh and engaged in pedagogical activities. The aim of the project is to commemorate famous teachers originally from Karabakh.

27/11/2020 11:37

The next historical figure of the "Famous Teachers of Karabakh" project of the Ministry of Education is Soltan Hajibeyov. An Azerbaijani composer, conductor, pedagogue Soltan Hajibeyov was born in 1919 in Shusha. Soltan Hajibeyov entered the history of Azerbaijani music culture as a composer, pedagogue and music public figure with a unique talent. Along with folk music, his father's cousin, genius Uzeyir Hajibeyov had a great contribution to his upbringing and formation as a composer. He moved to Baku in 1930 and lived in the family of Uzeyir Hajibeyov. Soltan Hajibeyov had worked as a teacher at the Azerbaijan State Conservatory since 1948. In 1948-1956 he was first the artistic director and then the director of the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic. From 1969 to the end of his life he worked as the rector of the Azerbaijan State Conservatory. It should be noted that the "Famous Teachers of Karabakh" project provides information about famous people born in Karabakh and engaged in pedagogical activities. The aim of the project is to commemorate famous teachers originally from Karabakh.

25/11/2020 10:30