On June 30, 2020 Khazar University held a virtual conference on University-industry relationships: challenges and perspectives within UniLab ERASMUS+ project (610245-EPP-1-2019-1-BE-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP) in cooperation with Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University.

The virtual conference organized through the Zoom program consisted of an opening part and two plenary sessions. Opening the event, Professor Hamlet Isakhanli, the Founder of Khazar University and Chairman of its Board of Directors and Trustees, emphasized the importance of further expanding cooperation between universities and companies and wished success to the conference.

The opening session of the conference was joined by Associate Prof. Irada Khalilova, the Rector of Khazar University, Prof. Rafig Jamalov, Vice-Rector for International Relations of the Azerbaijan State University of Oil and Industry, Parviz Bagirov, Head of the National Erasmus+ Office, Vusal Musayev, Deputy Head of the Department of Electricity and Energy Efficiency of the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The conference was moderated by Raziya Isayeva, the Development Director at Khazar University.

Opening the plenary session, Carme Royo, UniLab Project Coordinator and Executive Director of the European University Network for Continuing Education (EUCEN), briefed the conference participants about objectives of the project and the expected outcomes. Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain), Middlesex University (UK) and companies from Azerbaijan participated in the virtual conference. Speakers from SOCAR, Azerishig, Azergold, KPMG, Data SoCool Baku Abadlig LLC, VTB Bank, Khazar University eiLink Research and Development Center, and Turan Drilling & Engineering delivered presentations at the conference.

Speakers from universities and companies provided detailed information on various ways of cooperation between universities and companies. They also touched upon the challenges graduates face in entering the industry and how university-industry links can help students overcome these barriers.

It should be noted that in the UniLab project, partnered with Khazar University, representatives from the following partner universities took part: Pompeo Fabra University (Spain), Lille University (France), Krems University (Austria), Gomel State University, Mogilev State University (Belarus), Orenburg State University, Siberian State University, Moscow State University named after Lomonosov, Almetyevsk Oil University (Russia).