bp completes capacity-building project for Azerbaijani universities

bp has announced the successful completion of its yet another capacity-building project for Azerbaijani universities, Report informs referring to bp website.

The project aimed to further strengthen project management skills and capabilities across several higher educational institutions.

bp selected this project as an expansion to a similar educational program through which bp and its co-venturers had previously supported the training and build-up of project management teams in 15 local universities.

The objective of this follow-up project was to further strengthen the universities’ project management capacity by training additional resources - students as well as the teaching staff.

During the 14 months (November 2021- January 2023) of its duration, the project trained 95 students and 123 staff members representing eight higher educational institutions: the Azerbaijan University of Tourism and Management, the Azerbaijan State University of Economics, the Azerbaijan Technical University, Baku Engineering University, the Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University, the Academy of Public Administration, the Azerbaijan University of Architecture and Construction, and the National Aviation Academy.

Bakhtiyar Aslanbayli, bp’s vice president for the Caspian region, Communications and External Affairs, said: “The two project management initiatives– one which we supported together with our co-venturers and the next one which bp funded on its own, were designed to help local universities build and develop skills and capabilities required for them to professionally manage the projects that they may have with local organizations and increasingly with international partners. We are pleased that with our two projects, the majority of local universities now are equipped with good knowledge, up-to-date methods and mechanisms and, most importantly, internationally and nationally certified professionals to efficiently manage their own projects as well as the grant agreements they may enter into as part of their national and international cooperation activities.”

The participating students had 120 hours of training and based on their graduation results 64 of them – those with the best scores, received level D certificates from IPMA (the International Project Management Association), a world leader in the assessment of project managers. Level D is one of the four degrees of IPMA assessment.

Some 28 students were awarded local certificates by AzPMA (the Azerbaijan Project Management Association).
In addition, a 52-hour academic course on project management was developed as part of the project and 19 teachers representing all participating universities were trained to teach this course effectively at their universities.

The project scope also included subject matter consultations for all eight universities to support them in establishing their own university-based project management offices.

The project, which cost 209,703 manats ($123,355), was implemented by AzPMA.