Baku, June 28, AZERTAC

Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) has hosted a graduation ceremony. The event brought together SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan Mukhtar Babayev, BHOS rector Elmar Gasimov, BP Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey Gary Jones, the Higher School professors and teachers, rectors of national higher educational institutions, managers of transnational companies, representatives of British Heriot-Watt University (HWU), and BHOS graduates and their parents.

In his opening remarks, rector Elmar Gasimov extended his congratulations to all graduates and their families.

Speaking to the ceremony, SOCAR President, MP Rovnag Abdullayev reminded that in 2011 the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev entrusted the company’s management with a task to create a modern national higher educational institution, which would train highly qualified English speaking specialists for the oil and gas sector of Azerbaijan. “Today we are proud to see the successful results of our efforts. Prospective students earning highest score at entrance exams chose Baku Higher Oil School, which offers them academic programs developed in line with European educational system, new learning environment and high quality of education,” he said.

Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mukhtar Babayev also extended his congratulations to the young specialists and emphasized that BHOS graduates are not only excellent engineers, but also distinguished representatives of Azerbaijan. He emphasized that establishment of the Higher School was a bright example of the attention paid by the Azerbaijani President to issues of education and oil and gas industry development.

Rector Elmar Gasimov wished young engineers every success in their future endeavors an expressed confidence that they will honorably represent the Higher School wherever they would work or study. “Last year BHOS awarded Bachelor’s degree diplomas in Petroleum and Chemical Engineering. Today we bid farewell not only to petroleum and chemical engineering students, but also to process automation engineering students. Starting from the next academic year, we begin to enroll undergraduates in information security course. Thus, the Baku Higher Oil School has achieved its objective in training specialists for the oil and gas industry in line with the appeal of President Ilham Aliyev to turn the oil capital into human capital,” Elmar Gasimov said. As he reported, those young engineers who graduated from the BHOS last year are employed now by major national and international companies and organizations including SOCAR, STAR Refinery in Turkey, Azneft Production Union, Azerkimiya Production Union, Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery, BHOS, BP, Halliburton and Maire Tecnimont.

BP Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey Gary Jones emphasized that BHOS has achieved impressive results in training specialists in line with international standards. In his words, the graduates hired by the company last year are highly trained young specialists whose talents and qualifications became a valuable asset for the company.

SOCAR Vice-president for HR, IT and regulations Khalik Mammadov congratulated the graduates and said that he is proud to participate in such innovative project as the Baku Higher Oil School.

Vice-Principal of the Heriot-Watt University Professor (Great Britain) Julian Jones and professor of University of West Attica (Greece), coordinator of Erasmus+ program Panayotis Yannakopoulos extended their congratulations to the graduates and wished them every success in the future.

The event featured the screening of videos with greetings, congratulatory messages and best wishes recorded by BHOS graduates working now in largest transnational companies or doing Master degree study at leading universities abroad, and from professors and teachers of the Heriot-Watt University.

Then a ceremonial presentation of the diplomas started. Sixteen Process Automation Engineering students received Bachelor degree diplomas from the Higher School, and 35 Petroleum Engineering and 41 Chemical Engineering students received dual diplomas of the BHOS and the HWU. Twelve graduates were awarded diplomas with honors. Rashad Nazaraliyev, Tarlan Aliyev and Rahim Rahimli who were recognized as the best Petroleum Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Process Automation Engineering students respectively, were given plaquettes. Moreover, Rashad’s name badge was placed on a symbolic tree stump.

The graduates Mamed Jabrayilov, Sevinj Gafarli and Emiliya Mammadova extended their sincere gratitude to their teachers who played the most important role in their education and professional development. Speaking on behalf of the graduates’ parents, Zahid Allakhverdiyev, father of Chemical Engineering student Nigar Allakhverdiyeva, thanked the BHOS and SOCAR management for continuous support and attention to the education of Azerbaijani youth.

The official part of the ceremony was followed by a presentation of sand animation about the Higher School made by artist Naghiyya Rzayeva. The artistic part continued with performance of well-known “Qaytagi” musical band led by an honored artist of Azerbaijan Anvar Sadigov. The audience particularly warmly welcomed a joint performance of Azerbaijani and Scottish folk music by the band and Senior Operations Manager of the Azerbaijan branch of Oceaneering International Services Ltd. Innes Moir.

The ceremony concluded with the traditional throwing of the graduation caps in the air.

The Baku Higher Oil School is a public higher education institution affiliated to SOCAR and established based on the decree of the President of the Azerbaijan Republic Ilham Aliyev as of November 29, 2011. The main objective for establishing this higher school was to provide education based on contemporary curricula and brand-new teaching technologies in compliance with international standards in order to satisfy growing demands of the industry for highly qualified English speaking engineers and train specialists able to participate in the projects and activities carried out by SOCAR in Azerbaijan and abroad.