Khazar University is well known for its extensive international linkages in Azerbaijan as well as in the wider region. One of the contributors to well-established international relations is the number of grants Khazar University received for the last 10 years. Khazar University received numerous grants with high impact on its development as well as that of other Azerbaijani universities. Specifically, grants constantly received for the last several years were spent on teacher development, student exchange programs, and in general, on the reforms of the education system.
For the past two years two important projects for the Azerbaijani education system were transferred to other European universities due to the reason that they were not registered at the Ministry of Justice. It is worth to mention that Khazar University was the only grant coordinating university supported by the European Commission for 2015-2017.
In 2015, the grant for the project entitled “Advocacy Establishment for Students through Ombudsman Position” with a budget of 579 000 Euros gained from the ERASMUS + programme of the European Commission was transferred to Akaki Tsereteli University of Georgia.
In 2016, the grant for the “Promoting Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Azerbaijani Universities” project with a budget of 909 000 Euros was transferred to Universitat Politechnica de Valencia of Spain.
We regret to inform that both projects were not registered by the Ministry of Justice even though proper documents were timely submitted. The discriminatory attitude of the Ministry of Justice becomes obvious when all other partners involved by Khazar University are registered (isn’t it strange?). Thus, 1 488 000 Euros attracted for the development of education in Azerbaijan was transferred to European universities, and consequently opinion that “there is no will to gain money for improvement of your education in Azerbaijan” is formulated and attracting new funds is becoming very complicated.