Baku Higher Oil School held a ceremonial event on the occasion of the beginning of the new academic year 2015/2016. Rovnag Abdullayev, an MP and SOCAR President, Maleyka Abbaszade, Chairperson of the State Students Admission Commission, Gordon Birrell, BP Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, SOCAR vice-presidents and managerial staff, top management of a number of national and international companies, as well as BHOS faculty, students and their parents attended the event.
Welcoming the attendees Rector Elmar Gasimov expressed his pleasure of hosting the guests at BHOS on this remarkable day and on behalf of the faculty and staff expressed his gratitude to them for accepting the invitation to join the event. He also extended his congratulations to the students admitted with high scores to BHOS in academic year 2015/2016. Briefing on the achievements of the school, the activities implemented within the short period of time, as well as the perspectives, Rector Gasimov noted that according to the SSAC indicators, this academic year the minimum entrance score to BHOS constituted 659 points and the average score totalled 676 points. Underlying that this result is the highest one in Azerbaijan, the Rector noted that as compared with the previous year results, the score indicators improved dynamically for all three specializations. Moreover, 3 out of the total 7 students getting the highest 700 entrance points in Specialisation Group #1 were admitted to BHOS and these were the students graduating from Gubadli, Barda and Baku schools. A total of ten newly enrolled students graduated with gold medal, while the number of those awarded the silver medal constituted two students. Among the students graduating from Baku schools, there are six students from the Lyceum named after Zarifa Aliyeva, three students from Lyceum # 70, three students from Baku European Lyceum and three students from Biology Lyceum. Emphasizing the decree on establishment of BHOS issued by Ilham Aliyev, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Rector underlined that the establishment of the school was a vivid example of the motto "We have to transform our oil capital to human capital". Rector Gasimov extended his warm congratulations to Azerbaijani oil specialists on the occasion of September 20th, Oil Workers Day, and expressed his belief in further contribution of BHOS students as highly qualified specialists in oil sector workforce.
SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev extended his wishes of congratulation to BHOS staff, students and their parents on the occasion of the start of the new academic year. He emphasized that within a short period of time, a number of significant measures have been taken to build the infrastructure and improve the capacity of the school established based on the decree issued by President Ilham Aliyev, which paved the way for great achievements. He noted that as in the previous years, BHOS carried out significant activities in academic year 2014/2015. Establishing new partnership relations with international companies, expanding application of advanced technologies to ensure high quality teaching, as well as a number of other high performance indicators had led to success. Mr. Abdullayev expressed his belief that in academic year 2015/2016, BHOS will continue and expand the scope of its activities, and the students will do their best to keep up with this development. He reiterated his congratulations to the newly admitted students and their parents.
Taking the floor, SSAC Chairperson Maleyka Abbaszade congratulated the students for their remarkable results during the examinations and for being admitted to BHOS. She emphasized that BHOS was ahead of the national higher education institutions in terms of a number of indicators. She also underlined that BHOS achieved great results and the fact that the minimum entrance score to the school constituted 659 points this year was not only quite a big success, but also a great responsibility. She extended her wishes of success to the students and called them to take advantage of the good opportunities created by the government.
Gordon Birrell, BP Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, spoke about the relations between BP and BHOS emphasizing his contentment on the development of mutual partnership. He highly appreciated the role of BHOS in educating highly qualified young specialists and noted that BHOS was BP's the most closely collaborating higher education institution. He congratulated the students wishing them every success in their academic life.
Isa Mammadli, who gathered 700 points during the entrance exam and was admitted to Petroleum Engineering Programme took the floor and expressed how proud and glad he was to be admitted to BHOS. He underlined that he had been wishing of becoming a BHOS student and now his wish became true. Isa expressed his gratitude to President Ilham Aliyev for the conditions available at BHOS for the conditions provided at BHOS.
Sanan Eminov, the senior lecturer of BHOS Chemical Engineering Department who studied abroad based on SOCAR scholarship extended his gratitude to SOCAR management for the opportunity to study abroad and Rector Gasimov for inviting him to BHOS. He said he was glad to join BHOS, the most contemporary higher school in the country, and assured that he would certainly meet all the expectations.
In his speech, Natig Abbasov, father of Nihad Abbasov, another newly accepted student who gathered 700 points, said that he was very pleased to see his son as a student of the most prestigious higher schools of Azerbaijan. He appreciated President Ilham Aliyev's efforts directed to educational reforms and conditions available within the education system.
Sevinj Qafarli, BHOS third year student studying chemistry engineering and the winner of honorary diploma and money award granted by UK Heriot-Watt University for the best performance in academic year 2014/2015, took the floor and noted that her success had become possible due to the wide opportunities provided for students at BHOS. She also thanked the SOCAR management for the opportunities provided for participation in SOCAR Summer School 2015 Project which allowed her to visit Georgia and the support to BHOS students.
At the end of the meeting, the guests presented students' cards and computers granted by SOCAR. Moreover, the students distinguished for various achievements during the last academic year were also awarded certificates and diplomas of honor.
After the ceremony BHOS faculty and students visited the Alley of Honor to pay tribute to the National Leader Heydar Aliyev's memorial.