Baku, November 29, AZERTAC

Today Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) celebrates its tenth anniversary. BHOS was established as a public higher educational institution upon Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, dated November 29, 2011. Baku Higher Oil School was set up to meet growing needs of SOCAR, which is expanding its activities in Azerbaijan and abroad, and other industries in the country for highly qualified engineers trained in accordance with modern curricula and with the use of the latest education technologies, and having an advanced level of English.

By the Decree of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev dated April 10, 2012, Elmar Gasimov was appointed Rector of Baku Higher Oil School.

Baku Higher Oil School is the only technical university in Azerbaijan where training is conducted entirely in English. Since the first years of its existence, the university has been cooperating with Heriot-Watt University in Great Britain. An agreement was signed with this university on cooperation in the training of specialists, the application of the university program for teaching English at BHOS, and the training of specialists within the framework of a double degree project in two specialties.

The campus of Baku Higher Oil School is one of the largest educational campuses in the Caucasus region with a rich material and technical base. It includes state-of-the-art labs, a campus, canteens, two gyms and a swimming pool. The BHOS Сampus was opened on May 1, 2017 by President Ilham Aliyev.

In the year when the State Examination Center (SEC) conducted the first university admission examinations, BHOS became the leader among 51 universities in the rating table compiled by the SEC.

BHOS offers bachelor's degree courses in Petroleum Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Process Automation Engineering, and Information security, as well as master's degree courses in Petroleum Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Process Automation Engineering, and Master of Business Administration (MBA). In addition, a doctoral program was launched at the Higher School to provide training in the Doctor of Philosophy program. At the same time, admission of external students for the 2020/2021 academic year was conducted for those who wanted to get a second higher education in the specialty "Petroleum Engineering".

Baku Higher Oil School has the average passing score of 650 and above, which is the highest in Azerbaijan.

In the 2021/2022 academic year, BHOS for the first time admitted students to the second group of specialties, and 11 of the applicants who entered these specialties were awarded the Presidential Scholarship. 33 out of 102 students who were awarded the Presidential Scholarship in the 2021/2022 academic year are BHOS students. This is a record figure in the history of Azerbaijani education.

This year, the student who scored with the highest number of points in the entrance exams chose BHOS. The applicants who scored the highest points in the second group of specialties also chose Baku Higher Oil School. Currently, the number of BHOS Presidential Scholars has reached 205.

For a deeper mastery of curricula and theoretical subjects, BHOS students undergo summer and industrial practice at the relevant production facilities of SOCAR, as well as in BP, Equinor, Total, Schlumberger, ABB, Halliburton, Atenau Ltd, Schneider Electric, Microsoft, Baker Hughes, Emerson Process Management, Avandsis Group, Maire Tecnimont, Control and Measuring Instruments LLC, SOCAR’s Petkim petrochemical complex (Turkey), STAR refinery (Turkey).

Following the motto of the President of Azerbaijan, “We must turn oil capital into human capital,” Baku Higher Oil School, in addition to providing its students with high-quality education, also pays special attention to their employment.

Today, BHOS graduates work for SOCAR and its subsidiaries, including the Azneft PA, Azerikimya PA, Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery, SOCAR Umid, SOCAR Polymer, Petkim Petrokimya Holding (Turkey), STAR Oil Refinery (Turkey). BHOS graduates also work in large multinational companies such as BP, Schlumberger, Halliburton, Maire Tecnimont and others.

Since its foundation, Baku Higher Oil School has paid special attention to international cooperation. Cooperation agreements in the field of training specialists were signed with more than 50 universities in Great Britain, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Turkey, Estonia, Poland, Korea, USA, Norway, Slovakia, France, Russia, Greece, Italy, Germany and many other countries.

BHOS is a member of the Black Sea Universities Network (BSUN), the Eurasian Universities Union (EURAS) and the Worldwide Energy Universities Network (WEUN).

As part of a cooperation agreement signed with BP in 2016, BHOS is implementing joint educational projects with the British company TwentyEighty Strategy Exercution (STRATEX). The university also trains students under the master's program of the George Washington University (USA). In 2021, BHOS, in partnership with the British company Twenty Eighty Strategy Execution (STRATEX) and Duke University, launched a new phase of the Project Management School.

In short, for 10 years BHOS has become the most prestigious higher educational institution in Azerbaijan and a leader in the training of highly qualified engineers.