On January 29, 2021, Khazar University Development Center organized another virtual Focus Group Discussion within the UniLab project. The main topics of discussion were the expansion of university-business cooperation, the organization of internship programs for students, the difficulties they faced in the companies and the support provided by these companies, models for expanding university-business cooperation in the future.

This time, the participants of the event were graduates of Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering of Khazar University studying abroad (Emin Bayramov - Eotvos Lorand University, Hungary; Sarkhan Hajiyev - Pohang University of Nature and Technology, South Korea; Ruslan Babayev - Milan Polytechnic University, Italy). Dean of the Faculty of Sciences and Engineering Dr. Fakhranda Alimardanova, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Management Dr. Jeyhun Mammadov, Coordinator of the Faculty of Economics and Management Dr. Bahadir Baysal, as well as the executors of the UniLab project Ulkar Bayramova and Sabina Guluyeva participated at the event.

Dr. Fakhranda Alimardanova and Ulkar Bayramova informed the participants about the UniLab project, its goals and partners. After that, discussions were held in accordance with the agenda of the event, and the graduates took an active part in these discussions.

During the discussion, the topics were widely discussed such as the interns’ expectations from the companies they worked for, the difficulties they faced during the internship and the mentors’ support in this period, how companies value interns as future employees, the importance of having career centers in universities, its importance for students and establishment of future university-business cooperation models. During the discussions, the graduates also provided interesting examples of the organization of student internship programs in the country where they currently live and at the university where they study. 

At the end of the event, the organizers thanked the graduates for their active participation in the discussions and wished them success.