Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 29
Trend:
Rector of Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) Elmar Gasimov gave an interview to mass media about the results of year 2017, which we offer to our readers.
Mr.Gasimov, we came to the end of the calendar year. How can you evaluate this year 2017 for Azerbaijan?
I think this year has been memorable for each of us, because Azerbaijan has signed up to historical events, especially in the oil and gas industry. In 2017, Azerbaijan has signed a new Production Sharing Agreement on joint development of the Azeri, Chirag and Gunashli fields located in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, opened Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line, and our oil production reached two billion tons this year. Once more Azerbaijan has proved the leading position the country occupies in this field. Every Azerbaijani citizen shall be justifiably proud of these achievements.
What has the year brought to the Baku Higher Oil School?
This year will be remembered by great achievements for Baku Higher Oil School. The first success of the year was the most important event for us, namely the opening of our magnificent campus with the participation of Mr. President Ilham Aliyev on May 1. Then in July we bid farewell to our first graduates. At the same time, we admitted first Master students for the 2017/2018 academic year.
According to statistical data and compared to previous years, we have surpassed not only other higher education institutions, but also ourselves. Thus, according to the results of the entrance exams to higher education institutions held by State Examination Center, the highest passing score this year was 679 points, and this record belongs to BHOS. All prospective students applying to all three specialties at the Higher School were admitted after the first round of the exams.
I would like to add that the most popular field of the study for young people in 2017 was Process Automation Engineering: to become a BHOS student, it was necessary to earn 685 points as minimum. This score became record high in the country. And I also want to remind that, according to the State Examination Centre, Process Automation Engineering has become a profession of the year.
Other statistics are equally impressive. Upon the results of the entrance exams in 2017, all seven prospective students who earned 700 points in the first group of specialities have chosen to study at the Baku Higher Oil School. We hold a record for the number of undergraduates who were admitted to the higher educational institutions in the first group of specialities and were granted with the Presidential scholarship this year: 24 out of 25 Presidential scholars are first-year students at BHOS.
Results are always important to me and I can tell that I am very pleased with this year’s results. As I already mentioned, this year we bid farewell to our first graduates and 94% of them are already employed. BHOS is the only higher educational institution in Azerbaijan preparing highly qualified English speaking engineers for the oil and gas industry today. This enabled our graduates to find jobs at transnational companies such as SOCAR, Petkim, Star, BP, Schlumberger, Halliburton, Maire Tecnimont and others. The rest of the students continue their education at Master's and PhD levels at leading universities in Azerbaijan, Europe and the USA. This is a big motivation for me and I feel very proud of our graduates.
Elmar muallim, what do you expect for 2018? Will the next year be as successful for the Baku Higher Oil School as 2917?
I believe that the next year will be even more fruitful and productive. We have already started working on preparations for opening new specialties. We also plan to enlarge number of the students admitted to the Higher School, as we have all necessary opportunities including professional teachers, infrastructure, modern facilities, and material and technical resources. However, I will not disclose all our plans, as you will witness their implementation in 2018 yourselves.
In conclusion, I avail myself of the opportunity to extend my congratulations to all Azerbaijani people on the International Solidarity Day of Azerbaijanis and the coming New Year and wish everyone happy holidays.
Dear Elmar muallim, thank you for sharing your thoughts about the results of the outgoing year 2017 and plans for the coming year.