On December 12-16, 2016, the 4 th meeting of the ERASMUS + NIZAMI project took place in Heidelberg, Germany with the participation of members of European and Azerbaijan partner higher education institutions as well as Ministry of Education representatives of Azerbaijan Republic. Dr. Irada Khalilova, Head of the Biological Sciences Department, and Razia Isayeva, Development Director of Khazar University, represented Khazar University in the meeting. The meeting was held by Heidelberg University, a European partner in the project.

The meeting was opened Dr. Michael Winckler, administrative director of HGS MathComp, Heidelberg University, who is also local coordinator of four Erasmus Mundus action 2 programs. Then Prof. Dieter W. Heermann, Vice-President International Affairs of Heidelberg University, delivered a welcome speech.

Prof. Veronique Montero, NIZAMI project coordinator, University of Montpellier, welcomed all European and Azerbaijan partner universities. She presented the details of the meeting agenda, and introduced the report of the previous meeting.

Monika Sieberova from Masaryk University, Czech Republic, presented the high standards and thesis charter in doctoral education. In group sessions, representatives of the Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani partner universities and European partners discussed High Standards and Thesis charter in doctoral education.

On the second day of meetings, Dr. Michael Winckler presented details of WP6, quality assurance, quality control and quality assessment of the project. Perspectives from Azerbaijan and Europe were compared, and case studies were discussed.

On the third day of meetings, Dr. Pierre Yves Collart  Dutilleul from Montpellier University represented details of the National Portal Management and talked about its perspectives in sustainable communication in doctoral education. In group sessions, all details of setting up a National Portal were discussed.  All partners participated in the discussion. The meeting ended with positive prospects for the next meeting of the NIZAMI project in Azerbaijan.