Baku, December 4, AZERTAC 

Head of Afnan International Holding Company, Kuwait, Mubarak al Jassim has visited Baku Higher Oil School where he met rector Elmar Gasimov. The rector highligthed the history of BHOS. Mr. Gasimov said that the higher school was established under SOCAR in 2011 according to the decree of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. He said BHOS mainly aimed at education of highly qualified engineers for petroleum and chemical industry. Mr. Gasimov also stressed that BHOS focused on realization of President Ilham Aliyev’s saying “We should turn oil capital into human capital”. The rector said that BHOS offered free of charge education and all courses were conducted in English language in line with the educational programmes of Heriot Watt University, UK. He said professors of Heriot Watt University supervised exams conducted at BHOS and assessment of students’ knowledge was transparent. Mr. Gasimov also pointed out that top students of the country were admitted to study at BHOS and the number of BHOS students who won the Presidential scholarship was increasing every year. He said that in terms of average index related to entrance scores BHOS occupied the leading positions.

Touching upon the issue of BHOS new campus, the rector familiarized Mr. Jassim with its project. He emphasized that the construction work was nearly completed. The rector also said that the students of the higher school enjoyed the opportunity to take payment based internship at SOCAR, Total, BP, Schlumberger, Emerson Process Management, Statoil, Schneider Electric, ABB, Halliburton and other international companies. Underlining that Azerbaijan had 100 year experience in the field of oil engineering, Mr. Gasimov particularized that in order to maintain competitiveness education and training of highly qualified specialists was of utmost importance. He expressed his readiness to render any assistance for establishing a higher educational institution specializing in oil in Kuwait.

Head of Afnan International Holding Company Mubarak al Jassim said it is his first visit to Azerbaijan, adding he found Baku a very astounding city. Mr. Jassim said that he was an engineer, and highlighted the activities of Afnan International. Talking about his intention to establish a new higher school for education nationals for the petroleum sector in Kuwait, Mr. Jassim focused on the international cooperation, which, he said, is important in terms of intensification of petroleum related training throughout the Gulf region. Mr. Jassim underlined the possibility of conducting students’ exchange.

Then Mr. Jassim visited some classes at BHOS and met professors and students of the higher school.